madeleine sandefur

Madeleine Sandefur keeps up with a constantly changing list of twenty-five to thirty-five men and women in detention centers at Los Fresnos, TX (Port Isabel Detention Center), and Raymondville, TX (El Valle Detention Center).  Prior to the coronavirus, she visited many imprisoned asylum seekers herself and arranged for volunteers to visit and/or keep in touch with many more.  She started an Adopt an Asylum Seeker program which allows volunteers to “adopt” a detainee to provide emotional and/or monetary support during incarceration, and sometimes beyond. Madeleine works to find attorneys and sponsors for many detainees and presents cases to the Tias for possible legal aid funding.  Post release, she works with those individuals who request help to find resources in the city where their family or sponsor is located.