The Places The Law will take you....We were headed 150 miles south of Houston....That was where the detention camp was that held our client was located......
Last time we were on a Texas road like this , it was just the three of us...Me, Olivia and Beverly and Larry North..
Larry North ,now with the San-Francisco Innocence Program had us defending a death row client just weeks away from his execution..That was a close one....He also wanted to get close to Beverly, who had just started dating Nelson at the time...He wasn't on the trip and Josie..Just our Office Manager/Legal Secretary wasn't with us either..
What a difference a few years make..I was driving.....My wife ,Olivia was sitting in the front seat with her head on my shoulders..
and Josie, now our para-legal was sitting next to her ,sound asleep with her head on Olivia's shoulders..
in the backseat....
Beverly and Nelson....Now Husband and wife sat wrapped up in each others arms, sound asleep...A far cry from last time when she had to fight Larry North off and was wedged into the corner....Next to them was Attorneys Beatrice ''Bee Bee"Evans and Keith Jones...
They too were wrapped up in each others arms and asleep....Last time we were in Texas...They were probably still in Law School....
We were the team that was going to talk to our client, A Brazillian born Attorney named Sofia Cruz , who was being detained...
Back at our living quarters in Houston...The rest of our team...
Attorney Yvette Jones, Once my wife's room mate in law school...and her associates
Attorney Khalil Ahmed
And Sofia Garcia...along with
Investigator Jade Lee..
Were busy searching databases and making calls...
Trying to find the five year old daughter of our client ,who was being held in a seperate facility for children...
It was tedious work...but they were in a comfortable place... with a kitchen and plenty of food at their disposal
and a comfortable workplace with phones and a computer...
The seven of us left before they woke up...
We ate breakfast at a small Cantina not far from where we were staying..
The places the law will take you. II-
God it was hot.....102 degrees...I pulled into the Parking Lot...We walked up to the gate...A Hot sweaty beefy redneck guard looked at us....
A car full of Black people....
"You people got business here?" he asked..
Olivia opened up her pocketbook, She showed her identification...
"Hello, I'm an Attorney...I'm Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander....I'm here to see Sofia Cruz..." she said..
He looked at her papers...
"Attorney huh? Who are these other folks?" he barked..
"These are my associates, Attorney Beverly West..
Beverly showed her identification.....
"Her husband, Attorney Nelson East "
Nelson did the same....
"Ms. Boyd, our Para-Legal.."she said... I don't think he knew what a para-legal was.
"and Keith Jones and Beatrice Evans..."she said.
Keith showed his Identification..
So did Bee Bee...
"and my husband, Donnie Ray Alexander, our principal investigator.."said Olivia..
The guard looked at our ID's...
"You're from up North, Philadelphia PA.. You come all the way down here to Texas to see someone held here huh? You got an appointment?/" he asked..
I was getting annoyed with this guy....So was Keith Jones and Bee Bee
But Olivia was a shining example of pure professionalism..
"We do have an appointment...Beverly?" she said..
Beverly presented our papers...
The guard read them....He looked surprised...
"All of yall is lawyers huh? Wow! " he said...
He opened the gate and allowed us to come in..
.A female matron checked Olivia, Beverly, Josie and Bee Bee...
I wisely left my gun in the car....When they patted me down ,I didn't want to have to explain that...
Nelson and Keith were handled particularly rough by the guards patting them down..
Keith was visibly irritated with how he was being treated..but he followed Olivia's example and was cool and professional, as did Nelson.
III-
We walked inside the barbed wires....This was the closest thing to a prison I'd ever seen...
We walked past all the people, speaking spanish just mulling around...I felt sorry for them...Many of them had run away from something horrible, only to be arrested in this country and caged like a criminal...These people weren't criminals...
As far as I was concerned....The people detaining them (and some of them were being detained indefinitely with no idea when or if they'd be free again) were the real criminals...
Olivia, Beverly and I were led to a trailer...
Nelson looked at it...
"This is the meeting room?" he asked..
Another red necked and beefy guard said..
"Sorry it aint the Waldorf or some fancy hotel you're used to up north..." he said..
Keith Jones stared daggers at him...
His girlfriend, Bee Bee rubbed his knuckles softly...This seemed to calm him.
Josie looked afraid...
After awhile, Olivia came to the door..
"Yall can come in..." she said..
There was a long wooden table...No Air conditioning...The windows were just open...You could smell the heat in the air...
Nelson, Josie, Keith and Bee Bee walked in and sat down...
Attorney Sofia Cruz, Now a detainee was brought in...She had on a nice colorful summer blouse...
"Hello...I heard I had a visitor....I thought it was Slim Johnson...I wrote to him about my plight...I wrote to Larry North in San-Francisco....They both told me Olivia and Beverly.....So You are Olivia and Beverly?" she asked..
"I am.....Olivia Bennett-Alexander and this is my niece, Beverly West-East, My newly married niece."said Olivia..
Beverly giggled..
"How are you doing Sofia...We are gonna try to get you out of here...This is my husband, Attorney Nelson East
"Hello Sofia.." he said..
and our Para-Legal, Ms. Josie Boyd...
"Hello Sofia.."said Josie..
and these are our friends, who will also be assisting us...Attorneys Keith Jones and Beatrice Evans."Beverly concluded..
"Hi Sofia..."said Keith..
"Hi Sofia...you can call me Bee Bee."said Beatrice.....
"And last but never least, This is my husband, Donnie Ray Alexander, our investigator.."said Olivia..
"Hey Sofia...You look like you're holding up well..all things considered..."I said..
"I am doing my best...but I'm worried about my daughter....They won't tell me where she is.." said Sofia...She was weary...I could tell..
"I have three additional attorneys and another investigator looking for your daughter right now...They'll find her..."said Olivia..
''We are going to work on getting your work and school visas upgraded.."said Bee Bee..
"Then we've got a hearing in front of a Judge in two days..."said Keith...
"Hopefully , we can get you out of here in two days.." said Josie...
"I've been here a month...Some people have been here longer...I feel so much for them.." said Sofia..
"Once we get you out of here..We are going to get the ball rolling towards citizenship for you.."said Olivia..
"You have a clean record, you've been in the United States practically all your life...Working and earning a law degree, passing the bar....You should have no problem becoming a citizen." said Beverly...
"You should have been a citizen a long time ago..."said Bee Bee..
"You have quite a team Ms. Olivia...Very talented , Very Passionate...You give me hope.."said Sofia..
"We want you to keep hope....Are you being taken care of?" asked Olivia..
''We get two showers a day, Three meals...Two hot a day..The beds are about as comfortable as one can be in this type of place..."she said..
''We stopped by your house yesterday...Collected your mail..."said Nelson...
"Hold on to it...I have no where to keep it here.." said Sofia... "Thank you so much for what you're doing for me...but please find my little girl.." said Sofia..
"Your baby is five right? Where was she born?" asked Beverly...
''Oh here in Houston..."said Sofia..
''She's an American Citizen"said Bee Bee...
"And she's got no business being held in a detention camp for immigrants."said Nelson..
'We need to call Ms. Yvette and the others ."said Keith Jones..
IV-
But in Houston ,Yvette and Company are coming to the same conclusion...
"I got the book on little Allana Cruz...She's five years old...She was born in Houston General.."said Jade Lee...
''Wait a minute, You said she was born in Houston General? Here in Houston??"asked Khalil..
"Oh My God..She's an American Citizen!" said Sofia...
"THAT'S RIGHT!!!! And She's got no business being in an immigration detention center...If they'd done their homework, They'd know this...You have a copy of her birth certificate Jade?" asked Yvette..
"I do....and I've got better...I have the location of the camp she's being held in....It's 50 miles southwest of Houston..."said Jade..
"Jade, you are worth your weight in gold !!! We can make that trip....Let's go get a little girl.."said Yvette...
"Now we are making progress."said Sofia..
"Throw me the keys...I'm driving.."said Khalil...
Yvette,Jade, Sofia and Kahlil got in the SUV and headed to the detention center that held little Allana
Cruz...
A detention center just 50 miles outside of Houston.,....
V-
While in an office in downtown Houston, A sinister meeting was taking place....
"U.S. Attorney Dellums how are you?" asked a bald headed white man with a dark suit and a white shirt and red tie.,..He was Federal Judge, George Tarnover....A very powerful man in Houston Politics as well as legal circles.
Oh his wall was a photo of him and President Donald Trump, taken last year..
"You sent for me your honor...?" asked Todd Dellums..
"Yes...Some disturbing news..." said the Judge Tarnover..
"What is that?" asked Todd..
He put a photo of Sofia Cruz on the desk..
"That is Sofia Cruz....She's an Attorney....She's also an illegal immigrant, been living here illegally over twenty plus years....She's from Brazil..She's currently being held in one of our detention centers facing deportation..." said the White man...
''Yes, so what?" asked Todd Dellums..
''She apparently had some visitors...Visitors from your neck of the woods, Philadelphia.." said Judge Tarnover.
"Really?" he said..
Judge Tarnover put photos taken by a camera on the premises of Olivia, Beverly ,Nelson ,Josie and myself..
"Do you know these people?" he asked..
"Not personally, but I know of them...That's uh noted defense attorneys Olivia Bennett-Alexander, her niece, Beverly West and her staff...I think this guy, Nelson East is Beverly's husband,He's also an Attorney... and that guy, Donnie Ray Alexander is Olivia's husband, He's their investigator.. and the girl is I suppose another attorney that works with them...They're defense attorneys...I've heard of them....I don't believe I've met them.."said Todd Dellums..
"There was two other attorneys with them..."said the man ,who put photos of Bee Bee and Keith on the table..
upon seeing Bee Bee, Todd jerked a bit...but he held his composure..
"Bee Bee, she's here?" he thought...
''Do you know those two?" he asked..
"Uh ahhh our paths have crossed...Why?" asked Todd Dellums..
''I want to know why they have traveled here from Philadelphia to meet with a woman they don't know and why they are here period...Problem is...They aren't registered at any area hotels...I have no idea where they are staying or who is behind them...but I want to know why they are here, who is bank rolling them and I want what ever they are doing stopped..."said Judge Tarnover..
''Why? This person has a right to legal counsel....What is the problem?" asked Todd Dellums..
"The problem for you is that I want what ever they are doing stopped...I don't care how you do it...Just get it done...You do like being U.S. Attorney of this region do you not?" said Judge Tarnover...
"Yes Sir.."said Todd..
"I made that happen because I realized you were an ambitious young man who made things happen..I applaud ambition in any man." said Judge Tarnover...
He tossed some more photos down on the desk...
''Do you know these people?" he asked..
Todd jumped...
"Yvette, Sofia, Khalil and Jade Lee....They're all here.." he thought....
"Yes..I was briefly acquainted with them while I was in Philly....They're also lawyers..."he said.
"They paid a visit to another detention center where Ms. Cruz's five year old daughter is held...They filed a motion for her release....I suspect all of these people are together...I've got a man on this...The local Innocence Project doesn't know anything about them or that's what they say......And the Philadelphia office refused to talk to us...We checked....Philadelphia is bank rolling them...They aren't paying for their hotel anywhere in the Houston area...But they've got to be staying somewhere...Somewhere big and somewhere together...They must have a relative, one of them, who is putting them up and feeding them..Find them....Stop whatever it is they're doing."said the man...
''Why? What is your interest in this woman and her daughter?" asked Todd Dellums..
"Just get it done U.S. Attorney Dellums and remember you have a friend in this office...You want to keep me a friend...Good Day!"said Judge Tarnover...
Todd was confused....Something about what he was being asked to do didn't seem right, Not only that,it didn't seem legal....
He had come all the way to Texas to get away from Beatrice Evans and here she had followed him here...
What was he going to do? THE PLACES THE LAW TAKES YOU!
