In prison and temple, Oregonians help out detained migrants

With the sun bearing down, Norm and Kathy Daviess stood in the shade of a prison wall topped with coiled razor wire, waiting for three immigrants to come out.

It’s become an oddly familiar routine for the Air Force veteran and his wife, part of an ad hoc group of volunteers that formed in recent months after the Trump administration transferred

124 immigrants to the federal prison in rural Oregon, a first for the facility.

The detainees were among approximately 1,600 immigrants apprehended along the US-Mexico border and then transferred to federal prisons in five states after President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy left the usual facilities short of space.

Almost half of those sent to the prison outside Sheridan, an economically struggling town 80 kilometers southwest of Portland, on May 31 are from India, many of them Sikhs — part of an influx of Indian nationals entering the US in recent years. They also came from Nepal, Guatemala, Mexico and a dozen other countries.

“Zero tolerance” made Sheridan an unusual way station for migrants from around the world. Now, those who pass an initial screening and post bond are being released. And Norm and Kathy Daviess, along with more than 100 other volunteers — retirees, recent college graduates, lawyers, clergy — have lined up to help.

“The best part of this is seeing the big smile on their face, to be out, to have this burden done with,” said Kathy Daviess, 71, who wore a floppy white hat as she and her husband stood outside the prison.

Almost half of those sent to the prison were from India, many of them Sikhs — part of an influx of Indian nationals entering the US