Milton Selis is an example of showing resilience when those in power are pressing against you. Selis spoke at the Unidos Valley Central event about his experience attending an immigration appointment and being detained.
“I went in for the visit, and then, for them to be hiding behind a door, and then jumping over me, like, if I was gonna run away or something. To arrest me for no reason,” said Selis.
Selis immigrated to the United States in 2021, seeking asylum from Nicaragua. He was fleeing prosecution after speaking out against the government.
“I got into all this trouble because of speaking my word out, right? Speaking of what’s right, fighting for my own rights, for my people’s rights,” said Selis.
He explained that in 2018, they started protesting the communist government because citizens were being charged more after social security funds were stolen. Selis stated that over time, everything got out of hand to the point where the government sent the military to shoot at protesters.
“We had a lot of students and civilians killed because of holding a Nicaraguan flag, holding a little sign saying that we didn’t want it, the dictator in the country,” said Selis.
He eventually became a part of a committee through his university, where they held protests and organized the community. One protest in particular, he said, got out of control when the government sent the military and police.
“The government sent the army and the police with actual shooters and snipers and all of that. We started seeing people falling on the floor with a shot on their head, shot on their chest, people that were dying in front of us,” said Selis.
They continued their fight, and a few months later, he was running late to a protest when he got a call that the entire group had been caught and arrested.
“So, ever since my life changed, because the next day, police came to my office trying to kidnap me for no reason,” said Selis. He added that he “started getting persecuted by them, and receiving letters and notifications between different people, and all that, saying that they were gonna kill me, that they were gonna disappear me.”
He said one day his job helped him escape being illegally arrested, but the next day the police went to his mother’s and mistakenly took his brother and started torturing him, until they realized they had the wrong person. After that her used all of his money to get his family out of the country. He stayed for three more years until 2021.
“I was actually caught by the police, and they put a gun to my forehead, and they just started yelling out loud, they were gonna kill me. There, right outside of my house,” said Selis. “Thankfully, my neighbors came out, and they all started getting involved, and helping me out, and the police officer just told me… I’m gonna give you 10 days for you to leave the country. Otherwise, if I see you again here, I’m gonna be the one disappearing you.”
He eventually came to seek asylum in the United States, went through the proper channels, and attended his regular hearings and check-ins. One form of checking in that he was required to do was take a picture on a watch similar to an ankle bracelet that gave notifications on when he needed to take them, and it had his location. He explained that he had to take the photo right when the notification came in, not before or after the allotted moment.
One week, the notifications were not working, and he was told that he needed to come for an in-person appointment. Selis stated that on the way to his appointment, he already felt like something was wrong. This is the appointment that led to his detention at the California Detention Center for 39 days.
After he was arrested, the agents took him, and he asked an ICE agent for a phone call, who visibly grew irritated with Selis.
“He was like, talking to me in a strong way, and he was like, okay, you’re going to get one call. And if you get a call here, you’re no longer going to get a call at the detention center where you’re going to go,” said Selis.
He also had another decision to make — call his family or a lawyer.
“Obviously, you want to call your family. Right? But I understood what was right, I think it was more convenient for me to call my attorney,” explained Selis. “ So I decided to make that one call for my attorney. And it’s something that is not easy because you want to call probably your mom or your family, right? And at the end, I was crying.”
As he waited in a cell to be transferred to the California City Detention Center, he explained that the cell he and others were being held in was uncomfortably cold.
“I asked for a blanket. Obviously, they can’t say that they didn’t understand because I speak English,” said Selis. “So I told him, hey, can I get a blanket or can I get a sweater or something, we’re freezing in here? They said, no, literally, it’s just like, no, there’s none.”
Once he was taken to the California City Detention Center, Selis stated he was given three uniforms to wear, but for the first two weeks, the guards refused to give him a laundry bag, so he wore a rotation of dirty uniforms.
“They were not giving me the laundry bag, and I requested that every day, every day, for those two weeks, until they decided to give me a laundry bag after two weeks. So it’s completely denigrating,” stated Selis.
Inside the detention center, Selis said he had gotten sick and kept requesting to be seen by a doctor, but was never able to. He had also seen others with wounds that never got treated.
The food was usually expired. If they were in a hall talking to each other, the guards would yell at them, and Selis spoke about the type of punishment inside the center.
“They’ll always threaten you to take you to the hole,” said Selis. “The hole was like a punishment place where they’ll put you in, you won’t get no calls, not any chance to go out in the yard.”
Selis explained that they normally get around 30 to 40 minutes a day to go outside, and that’s the only chance they get to see the sun, but it was always threatened with being taken away.
He was released when the United Farm Workers Foundation assisted in obtaining a writ of habeas corpus showing that there was no legal basis for his detention.
Selis stated that being in the California City Detention Center was one of the worst things. He compared the fear he has of going to work to the trauma he felt back in Nicaragua that made him come to the United States in the first place.
“I also feel persecuted here. Like, I feel insecure going to work. I feel insecure at work,” expressed Selis. “I’m living the same trauma I already lived. again and again, you know. Because now it’s just not like what I’m living right now, but it’s also activating all the trauma I already lived back there, and like, I have no option,” said Selis.
Since being released, he was able to share how he got out with others he was detained with.
“I think we can only fight this by speaking our word out, talking about what it is, really the truth. And if we can’t do anything like supporting with money or anything like that, at least support with knowledge. Knowledge is powerful,” said Selis. “Like a bunch of other friends that I had in there. They saw me getting out. They asked me how. I told them how. And right after, a bunch of them have gotten out.
Looking to add reason or hope to his situation, Selis stated that maybe his experience was needed for others to find a way out.
“Maybe I got arrested and got out because God wanted to give a little light to other people that were in there, and now they’re free,” said Selis.
