A Dearborn father, Abdelouahid Aouchiche was detained on Oct. 6 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside Masjid Al-Furqan in Detroit, on his way to the pre-dawn Fajr prayer with his son and others.
Aouchiche’s wife Lorenda Lewis says he sent his son inside the mosque, and instructed him to call his mother to pick him up.
“When I went to pick Abdullah up, he was outside by himself, and he said he hadn’t seen his father. He doesn’t know where he is. And then I realized they were parked over to the side, and they let the window down so that the kids can see him for the last time,” she shares.
Aouchiche was taken to the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, which houses over 1,400 people.
Lewis says it’s been a struggle to visit the facility, due to frequently changing policies, visitation times, and the 4 hour drive. She says the policies discourage you from visiting.
“It will alternate one hour for one week and three hours for the following week. So you will have to get up four o’clock in the morning to be there on time, because if you got there by a certain time… you were not allowed to visit,” she explains.
Concerns of mistreatment at the facility
In December, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), who is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, visited the facility, noting its dire conditions.
Tlaib’s office says they received multiple reports, “including frigid temperatures, inadequate food, unsanitary facilities, difficulties accessing attorneys and loved ones, translation and communication issues, and problems obtaining medical care.”
After the visitation, Tlaib released a statement in which she says, “I am fighting for the freedom and dignity of every immigrant, asylum seeker, and refugee who calls our country home.”
A family separated
Aouchiche and Lewis share four children, between the ages of 6 and 12.
Lewis says the current policies do not allow more than four visitors total in a day. With the kids being minors, they were not all able to go back to see their father together.
“But because there’s only four people, and they’re under 18, they could not go back there alone. So I was the only one that can go back there,” she says.
Lewis says she is concerned about the conditions at the facility.
“They don’t have blankets. They have like a sweater type, something that they sleep with… the heat is horrible and it’s wintertime, but they don’t even have a blanket to sleep with,” she shares.
Lack of religious accommodations
Lewis says her husband was not receiving halal food in the beginning—only eating peanut butter, rice, and noodles. Since then, halal food has been provided, she says.
She says she’s also concerned for Muslims who observe fasting and worship during the month of Ramadan, which began Tuesday night.
“Only in this one pod where he is there are over 300 Muslims… he said they have 12 prayer rugs and no Qurans,” she says.
She says she’s also concerned whether people will be able to eat a pre-dawn meal to begin fasting, and the meal at sunset to break fast.
“Are they going to accommodate the Muslims getting up four or five o’clock in the morning so that they can eat breakfast at that time and then having suhur, and then having iftar when it’s time to break fast? With the way that they’re doing things, I’m not really sure,” she shares.
Community steps up to support the family
Lewis says her husband’s detention has put a huge strain on her family.
“Something like this happened all of a sudden, with uncertainty, has taken a lot on my family, the children are having their father around. He paid most of the bills, so now I have to make sure that I work double time and put in extra hours so that I can pay the bills that he was paying,” she says.
She may have to get a second job to provide for her family, something Lewis says will be difficult in her line of work as a doula.
Community members have put together a GoFundMe to help the family get on their feet. Lewis says she’s grateful people are stepping up to help, but she’s concerned about the funds running out.
Lewis is also concerned about the mistreatment of others held at the North Lake Detention Facility in Baldwin. She says some people have no one to visit. Lewis says there are efforts to organize bilingual or multilingual volunteers to visit through a team at the Islamic Center of East Lansing by emailing info@lansingislam.com.
Lewis says she’s leaning on her faith to get her through this time, during the spiritual month of Ramadan and prayer.
She says there needs to be policy changes in the facility.
“Their policies need to change, the visitation needs to change… we are not criminals. The detainees there are not criminals, and we’re being treated and our families are being treated like criminals and that needs to stop,” she says.
Since conducting this interview late last week, Abdelouahid Aouchiche was transferred to Louisiana over the weekend and has since been moved to Texas.
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