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On February 21, Samantha Sanchez joined her husband, Allen Tayson, on his adjustment of status interview with the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement in an office in San Jose, California. Within 10 minutes of her husband being called in, someone who worked there approached Sanchez and her children, ages 5 and 14, to let her know her husband was being detained.

At that moment, everything stopped.

“I heard ringing in my ear, my eyes were wide open,” Sanchez, 33, said. “I felt my heartbeat just getting louder, and I just felt my daughter pulling on my shirt, saying, ‘Mom, mom, are you okay? Mom, where’s Dad?’ My son was grabbing on my shoulder, telling me everything’s gonna be okay. I was just in shock.”

After the family was escorted out of the building, Sanchez sat in her car for 20 minutes in disbelief. She was so distraught that she couldn’t drive, so she called her brother to help. In that worst moment, she held on to the hope that once he was transferred to an immigration jail she would be able to visit and embrace him. Then he was sent to the California City Detention Facility.

“I thought … we could go up there and see him and hug him and just be with him, maybe have lunch or some type of thing with him in the visits, but he confirmed to me, like, ‘No, babe, this is not how they do things out here,’” said Sanchez, who is seven and a half months pregnant.

This Back to School Season, Kids Face a New Fear: ICE Taking Their Parents

People go months without being able to hug their loved ones while they fight their cases and face possible deportation.

People go months without being able to hug their loved ones while they fight their cases and face possible deportation.

California City Detention Facility is the only immigration jail in the state not to allow contact visits, and detained people, their families, and immigrant justice advocates say this denial of visitation deteriorates mental health. People imprisoned there, most of whom have no criminal record, go months without being able to hug their loved ones while they fight their cases and face possible deportation. Their families, who often struggle to raise funds for legal fees, don’t get the essential assurance and support of an in-person visit. Now, detained individuals and their families have formed a coalition with justice advocates to fight for contact visits.

CoreCivic did not respond to a request for comment.

“Since my husband’s been in there, he hasn’t physically touched my growing belly, felt the baby kick, hasn’t been here for any doctor’s appointments, and I think [visits would] help mentally for us to be at ease, to see him in person, to see if … he’s maintaining his body weight,” Sanchez said.

Prior to his incarceration, Tayson and Sanchez would frequently take their children on road trips across California. When they weren’t on a trip, they’d spend the weekend doing fun activities to get the kids out of the house. On Sundays the family would always start their day with a trip to the grocery store, get lunch after, then do laundry and clean the house.

Now, Sanchez finds herself waking up early every morning so she can cry and let her emotions out before her kids wake up so they won’t see her sad.

“I just feel sorry that I’m pregnant, and my baby has to feel all this pain and sadness,........

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