Almost a month ago, Miguel Angel Salas Leon's life changed when, in an unexpected raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he was arrested along with a dozen of his fellow workers in the warehouse of the Ambiance Apparel factory in the Fashion District of Los Angeles.

Since then, his family and friends have lived through an ordeal trying to communicate with him.

“We can only have calls that are cut off after a minute or two. He’s the one calling. Each minute costs him between $1.50 and $2.50,” says Luis Marroquín, one of Miguel Ángel’s best friends.

“He calls me, and I have to accept that the call will be recorded or listened to.”

Miguel Ángel, a 55-year-old immigrant from Puebla, Mexico, was detained on June 6 while working at the Ambiance warehouse. He had a five-year work permit and was in the process of obtaining a waiver for his residency application.

“It seemed like he had a feeling something was going to happen. Shortly before, he had told me that Ambiance had been audited by ICE, and he didn’t want to go. He had been working there for eight years.”

But after talking it over, they came to the conclusion that there was nothing to fear.

“His lawyer, Mercedes Castillo, is handling his residency petition; he has a work permit and his Real ID. He was doing everything legally to fix his immigration status.”

In fact, he says that when his friend obtained his work permit, he felt somewhat protected from deportation.

That's why the aggressive raid at his workplace, from which they took him away in handcuffs as if he were a high-flying criminal, was an event that, although he had a feeling about it, he never believed would come true.

“He's had a really bad time in Adelanto. It's saturated. They sleep on the floor. They have the air conditioning on its highest temperature.”

He says that even the food has made him feel bad. “He says he's very constipated. They don't have enough water, and the treatment is very bad. The only thing that gives him strength is that all the detainees pray together.”

When he was arrested, Miguel Ángel was held for two days at the Downtown Los Angeles Detention Center; He spent another two days in Santa Ana, and was finally transferred to Adelanto.

“He managed to get the little over $100 he had on him deposited into his Adelanto account to make phone calls and buy products. When a niece went to visit him at the Detention Center, they wouldn't give her access, but they did allow her to put money into his account.”

With Miguel Ángel's arrest, Luis's financial situation has become more complicated, since they are roommates, and each one pays half the rent.

“I'm stuck with the rent of $1,743, plus utility bills. I live off of Social Security money for my disability, and I can't work. So I've had to resort to loans to pay the rent, and some friends have offered to lend us money for the possible bail that a judge sets for him.”

Despite all the challenges, Luis says that Miguel Ángel is trying hard, and he is hopeful that they will let him out. to fight her case in freedom.

The immigration attorney says she has never had to deal with such chaos both from ICE and in the court system.

“They are overwhelmed with work. They are not processing cases at the same pace as detentions. There is not enough staff. For us as attorneys, it has been very difficult to locate and communicate with our clients, or to get an appointment.”

She says people are so desperate that many are signing their deportation notices.

“I care so much about my clients, that I feel frustrated every day.”

He comments that today, July 1, there were around 250 people detained in the basement, and their families faced many obstacles in gaining access to them.

“To make calls from the basement of the ICE Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, they charge immigrants 40 cents per minute; and per day they give them a burrito and a water.”

Immigrant arrests have increased since the beginning of June, after White House immigration chief Stephen Miller set a goal of 3,000 arrests per day.

As arrests increase, so do complaints about the inhumane conditions in which detained immigrants are kept.

At the Metropolitan Detention Center, the basement has been converted into a room without beds where arrested immigrants are held for days while they are processed and a decision is made as to where to send them.