As the Trump administration’s efforts at mass deportation continue, tens of thousands of people have been picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and put in jail to await legal proceedings that could send them out of the country.
Since March 19, more than 200 of them have been detained at the Phelps County Jail in Rolla. Some are there for only one day, while others have been detained for more than two months. They arrive with no possessions and limited ability to contact their loved ones.
Now activists have come together to try to provide comfort, assistance and, in some cases, clean underwear to the detainees.
They’re known as Abide In Love, a group of about 50 Phelps County residents whose mission is to “support immigrants in our community.” In a county where more than 70% of voters cast ballots for Donald Trump in the last presidential election, they are opposed to President Trump's immigration policies, but are choosing to work within existing frameworks of the justice system to try to make things a little bit better for detainees in Rolla.
And their work is drawing attention to how the jail is benefiting financially from housing federal detainees.
“I have just been overwhelmed by everything that's been going on with the deportations,” said Amy Beechner-McCarthy, the group’s president. “And I thought I had to do something — to create a beloved community. My goal is that we could be welcoming all immigrants into our community, but we had to start with the people that were in the jail here.”
Beechner-McCarthy said news that an ICE detainee died shortly after being placed in the Phelps County Jail gave the group focus and direction. The group has provided support for dozens of detainees, including Carol Mayorga, a Kennett woman who spent time in the Rolla jail during weeks of detention before ultimately being released.
Abide in Love recruited members through Facebook pages and word of mouth in March and April. They set up group chats and a spreadsheet to track detainees and held meetings in pubs in Rolla. They have applied to become a 501(c)3 nonprofit and have started raising money with the intention of paying for detainees' medical needs that are not provided for by the jail.
Their first effort was to create a care package for each ICE detainee that they would receive after arriving at the Phelps County Jail. It contains snacks and hygiene products the group buys through the jail commissary. Jail staff members place a Phelps County sheriff-approved sticker on each care package with a message in English and Spanish about Abide in Love and saying members will get in contact soon.
“These detainees are scared. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know how to contact their families,” said Lucy Behrendt, the group’s secretary. “One of the first things we do is put some money in their account on the app they can use to text and call their families.”
The work is time-consuming and sometimes heart-wrenching, Behrendt said. She often gets requests for legal help, which Abide in Love can’t provide. But she said having someone to communicate with, even when it’s mostly in text messages using translation apps, is ultimately important.
“We're giving them a few dollars, and some of them have said, ‘No one's reached out to me, bless you, no one's doing this work.’ I do think it's making a difference because they're telling us that it's making a difference,” Behrendt said.
One of those detainees is Fernando Herrera-Cruz. He was brought to Phelps County Jail from Lake of the Ozarks in early April.
The trailer he was hauling for his roofing job got a flat tire and was blocking the street. When police arrived, they arrested him and turned him over to ICE when he couldn't produce identification documents.
Speaking from the Phelps County Jail in Spanish, Herrera-Cruz said he had no way to contact his family until Abide in Love found him.
“If you don’t have family here, well, you can’t communicate with them,” he said. “If no one puts money in your account from the outside, then you can’t speak to anyone.”
Herrera-Cruz said the guards at the Phelps County Jail don’t speak Spanish, making it difficult to understand directions. He said he has not breathed fresh air or felt sunshine in months.
He said he is relying on Abide in Love to help meet some basic needs.
“When you get here, they take your belongings,” he said. “They don’t give you socks. They don’t give you boxers. They don’t give you shirts. Just the uniform — and you’re left without boxers, without socks, and it’s really cold.”
Abide in Love tries to meet as many of the needs of the detainees as possible.
“Trying to figure out how to buy underwear for someone I’ve never met through a prison commissary is definitely something I never thought I’d do,” Behrendt said. “But I know it is a little thing that can make a big difference.”
Contracts and the business of jails
The Phelps County Jail holds a few dozen ICE detainees at a time.
The reason they are here, often far from where they were arrested, is that Phelps County has had a contract with the federal government to house inmates for more than 20 years.
For most of that time, they consisted of people arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service or by military police at nearby Fort Leonard Wood. But in January, the jail completed and opened a $17 million expansion it started in 2019 that doubled its capacity.
Shortly after, the Trump administration started its mass deportation efforts, and ICE piggybacked on those existing federal contracts with jails around the country — and the Phelps County Jail had space.
Phelps County gets $85 a night to house a federal detainee. Multiply that by 35 ICE detainees, and that’s about $3,000 a night.
“I'm tickled with that,” said Joey Auxier, the presiding commissioner of the Phelps County Commission. “I thought [housing ICE detainees] was an opportunity for us to recoup some of that money that we spent to do the jail expansion.”
Auxier said he doesn’t have a preference for which federal detainees are housed at the Phelps County Jail, but if there's room, he likes seeing the space utilized and paid for by the federal government.
“If the U.S. Marshals wanted to give us more prisoners, I would have welcomed that as well. I can't really judge the federal government and who they're going to arrest and who they're going to put in our jail. And I don't care if it's ICE or the military or the U.S. Marshals,” Auxier said.
Even with the increased revenue, Sheriff Mike Kirn said it's too soon to know exactly the economic impact the influx of ICE detainees has on the county.
“ICE requires a lot more paperwork and a lot more staff time,” he said. “We’ve had to hire additional people, especially for transportation of ICE detainees.”
County support for Abide in Love
Abide in Love members are quick to praise the sheriff for his help and willingness to work with them. Kirn has met with the group multiple times and helps members navigate the jail’s protocols. It's his staff that puts the stickers on the care packages each ICE detainee receives.
Kirn said Abide in Love is an example of Phelps County’s generosity and compassion.
“It's our job to hold people,” he said. “It's not our job to punish people. We try to give them the best environment for a tough time in their life. I mean, we're here to keep them safe, to get them through the process and to house them, and if anything would make that easier on them, I'm willing to do that.”
“I don't want these people tarred and feathered,” Auxier said. “They're here because where they came from was an awful place. You know, if you're willing to risk your family, your life, your limb, to come here so your life will be better, that’s something.”
While the county has been supportive of Abide in Love’s efforts, it faces challenges, which include the fees to put money in detainees accounts, the language barrier and being able to provide only the hygiene, food and clothing that is available through the jail’s commissary.
Abide in Love looks to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to navigate those challenges.
“We use the six principles [of nonviolence] at every meeting. We read them and use the strategies to help bring about a beloved community,” said Beechner-McCarthy. “That helps us focus on working within the system.”
Auxier said that approach makes it easy to support Abide in Love.
“They're not out here waving flags and protesting at our jail,” he said. “They're just helping people. If they're making their stay in our jail a little easier, that’s a good thing.”
While the relationship between Abide in Love and the county is amiable, it may operate at a surface level. The group — and the detainees — have frustrations with the policies that led to the need for charitable works.
Max Tohline, an Abide in Love member, said Phelps County’s cooperation also doesn’t mitigate his concerns that ICE’s actions are immoral and unconstitutional. He said that he will work within the system to help detainees but that doing so is also a protest and an expression of patriotism.
“Abide in Love is a group that has an idea about how this country could become a better place based on the way we are living in it and the kindness that we show to our neighbors and the respect and the love that we show to our neighbors,” he said. “They are the height of patriotism.”
