CHICAGO () — Airida Gould, a Lithuanian-born woman being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, described to the I-Team what she called one of the most disturbing stops in her detention journey: a facility in Brazil, Indiana, where she was sent after leaving the Broadview ICE processing center.
“I think people take better care of their cats and dogs,” Gould said, adding that the conditions were so troubling she believes the facility “has to be closed.” Speaking by video alongside her immigration attorney and her husband, she said the environment was so filthy she struggled to describe it in detail. Gould is now in ICE custody in Kentucky, where she has spent more than two months sharing a cell with 13 other women and says the conditions are better.
“This place is really very clean. That’s what they focus on the most,” Gould told the I-Team. But she said access to nutritious food and time outdoors remain limited. “The food, we never get any fresh foods, never. I’m longer than two months now with zero fresh foods,” she said. “We go to the gym to get fresh air. One hour, three times per week, so three hours per week I get fresh air.”
More than 300 miles away, her husband, Mark Gould, an American Army veteran, is raising their two sons while waiting for any update from his wife.
“In the morning when I wake up, the biggest apprehension I have now is I wait for your text,” Mark said during a recent video call with Airida. “First text is like when I get my relief.”
For now, the family’s contact is limited to text messages and the occasional inmate video call. Gould became tearful while speaking about the possibility of being reunited with her husband and children, even as the threat of deportation hangs over her.
“So that day will come. I know it’s coming soon,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter what. We’re going to be together, and everything will be just perfect, beautiful.”
Gould had been under a removal order issued nearly 17 years ago. She was arrested by ICE in May during a green card interview, a meeting she said she attended on the advice of her first immigration attorney. According to Gould, she was taken into custody without being given the chance to say goodbye to her family.
ALSO READ: Hidden Exoplanet Revealed Around Young Star After 10 Years
“They told me, they said, ‘ma’am, we have to be honest with you. What’s going right now we never had before. This is what new administration does.’ That clearly was said to me. And they said, ‘we are so sorry; we have to do our job,'” Gould said.
She’s now represented by former Chicago immigration court Judge Carla Espinoza, who is working to stop her deportation.
“Now that she’s detained, ICE can enforce that removal order. So, it’s a battle against time,” Espinoza told the I-Team.
Gould has a pending case before the Board of Immigration Appeals but could be deported before her case is heard.
“ICE has the power to take away that avenue for relief by removing her. So, that’s what makes it difficult,” Espinoza said.
Gould’s husband says he is holding out hope.
“You’re living with this like constant void and pit in your stomach. You know, that’s you, just, it doesn’t go away, just dealing with heartache on a daily basis.”
Gould is in a women’s annex in Kentucky, where she says there is adequate medical care. However, her attorney told the I-Team not all detention centers are created equal. She says many are deficient because of the influx in population with the Trump administration’s push for immigration arrests.
