Unique Collection of Detained Asylum Seekers' Letters -- Archived at SDSU Library
February 20, 2019 Carina Chernisky
The San Diego State University (SDSU) Library has collected and archived over 100 letters written by refugees that are currently in detention at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, which is located roughly 25 miles south of the SDSU campus. Watching the border crisis unfold, the San Diego and SDSU community created a grassroots group called Detainee Allies. The group exchanges letters with refugees at the center, which ultimately become part of this living archive. Letters can be filtered by date, topic, and language.
This collection description from the archive illustrates the magnitude of the effort:
The Otay Mesa Detention Center Detainee Letter Collection documents the hidden stories of hundreds of refugees from human rights hot spots around the world–including Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Brazil, Cameroon, Eritrea and China. Each of them has sought asylum in the United States and has been held at the San Diego, California Otay Mesa Detention Center operated by a private corrections company, CoreCivic. These letters provide insight into the lives of asylum seekers and migrants both before and during detention. Identifying information has been redacted to protect the privacy and safety of the writers. Letters date from July 2018 to present.
Further reading:
- SDSU Library Archive Details Detainees’ Path to Seeking Asylum, Conditions Inside Detention (SDSU News Center)
- SDSU Students and Faculty Collect Letters from Detained Migrants (The Daily Aztec)
