Nightmare at PDX
In all, Cristina was held for 48 hours with the jail population, though she had committed no crime. She was treated poorly, and denied medical treatment when she requested it. She had no money in her jail phone account and no access to her belongings, so could not call out to family members. Once I found out about the phone account, it took $130 to send messages and make phone calls over the next 24 hours. Cristina was taken from NORCOR back to Portland International Airport the next day where she was able to board a plane and exit the nightmare that the United States had been for her. Even if she had the wrong visa, was sending a 22-year-old college student to jail the only option? They could have released her to me for two days, to be returned to the airport for her return flight. They could have explained the situation to me or her family. They could have provided her with one free phone call. But they did not. If I had not gotten ahold of the ACLU of Oregon, who finally told me where Cristina was being held, nobody would have heard from her for at least 48 hours.
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