If you have been following my experiences at the Northlake detention center on Facebook, you are probably familiar with this story. In case this is new to you, let me provide a little background. This young woman, Yoleixi, made a 3-month journey from Venezuela to Texas--much on foot-- to benefit from the Temporary Protected Status of Venezuelan immigrants in August of 2024. She entered the US legally and was in the process of applying for asylum. She was working, sending money back home to help her family. She was hoping to eventually settle here and build a better life for her kids. She left 2 young girls behind with her sister while she got established in the US. While she was working, she was also taking online courses and trying to learn English. She did everything "the right way," but the current administration ended TPS for Venezuela. 3 months after she had a baby girl (in April of 2025), her angry boyfriend made a phone call to ICE that resulted in her arrest. Her 3 month old daughter was sent to Texas to live with Yoleixi's dad, and she wasn't able to see or talk to any family. She lost ALL of her possessions when she was sent to the Northlake detention center in Baldwin with no access to legal help, communication, or medical care. That's where I met her, being her first visitor after 5 months.

We quickly made a connection in spite of my limited Spanish, and I returned to visit several times. I was able to help her contact her family, both in Texas and in Venezuela, which was a huge comfort to her. We learned about a messaging app that detainees could use (for a fee, of course) and soon we were texting daily. I tried to help by making connections with legal resources, but every effort was denied and we knew she would be deported. In the meantime, she was looking out for the others in her cell block, trying to get help for one woman who discovered she was pregnant and others with health issues.

When I arrived for a visit on Saturday, March 7, she told me that she was being deported that day. She had been told that she would be sent to Texas to be reunited with her baby, and that made the goodbyes a bit happier, a bit more hopeful. However, when I checked the online tool for locating detainees, she showed up in Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, in one of the worst centers in terms of cleanliness and human decency. Detainees are typically deported directly from Louisiana, but her sister and I are still holding onto hope that she will be reunited with her baby first.

When she is sent back to Venezuela, she will arrive by plane in Caracas, the capital. However, she doesn't know anyone there. Her home is near Maracaibo, a long, dangerous bus ride from Caracas, and she will (hopefully!) be traveling with a baby.

Yoli is an amazing young woman. She is smart and funny, determined and resourceful. She is loving and caring, even when her own well-being is at stake. Even before the news of her deportation, she was working on making other plans--a small business in Venezuela to save money, so that she could get passports and plane tickets to Spain. I wanted to start this Gofundme on her behalf to try to help her with her ambitions to build a better life. I know that money can't get back the time she lost in detention or ease the pain from the dark experiences of this past year, but perhaps a little help will compensate in a small way for the way our country has treated her.

Here is a breakdown of how I am hoping this money will be spent:

Please share this and donate if you can!