Ginny and Art Hultquist of First, Greensboro, have traveled several times to the remote detention center in Lumpkin, GA. Last February, they met Mildred Pierre, who was visiting her fiancé, Rodney, at the El Refugio Welcome House. This was the first time she had seen him since he had been picked up by ICE in Atlanta a few days before. This is their story.

For years Mildred brought her kids to Rodney’s shop for haircuts.  Rodney would joke with her and they would swap parenting tips. Over three years their love grew.  At a special moment in January 2025, Rodney proposed and Mildred joyously accepted. They began planning a life together with their blended families.

Then, just 11 days after their engagement, their future was shattered when he was picked up by ICE and taken to Stewart Detention Center, located in a remote area of southern Georgia. This facility is where 2000 men and women are housed, and it is run by the for-profit CoreCivic company. Rodney is now the in-house barber for men making “top dollar” of $4 a day, the highest rate available to people housed there. The facility is mostly maintained by the detainees making $1 a day.

Some background on Rodney: At age 2, Rodney and his mom were flown to the U.S. on a humanitarian visa by Shriners Children’s Hospital to undergo 12 surgeries, including a few on his legs which stemmed from abnormalities from birth. The abnormalities included a severely deformed right hand. When the surgeries did not work, his legs below the knees were amputated, and he continued life with his family in the U.S.

But at age 16, a unit next to his apartment was robbed. He was accused and charged with stealing a very large TV, which, given his lack of legs and hand and heavy prosthetics, would not have been possible. As a 16-year-old, he was told he could either plead guilty and go home with probation or face 5 years in prison (bear in mind, this was policing almost 30 years ago in 1996). Terrified, he chose to go home but later violated his probation in 1997 due to not being able to pay the $750 fines. Subsequently, Rodney spent 9 months in jail. He had to wait 7 years before being eligible to apply for the pardon. Then in 2010, he applied and received a pardon from Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Parole, a very rare occurrence for the State to pardon undocumented individuals. The pardon should have shielded his ’97 conviction from any prosecution by ICE.

The family went on to live a normal life in Atlanta, and Rodney continued with successively larger prosthetics as new technology evolved over time. He grew up assuming he was a citizen like everyone he knew: it was the only life he knew. He became a community leader and a successful barber determined to have a skill, despite his legs and hand. Providing free haircuts to underprivileged families at different events and supporting fundraisers such as the breast cancer awareness Komen Georgia More Than Pink Walk brought him joy.

Fast forward to January 15, 2025, when ICE showed up at his home and immediately took him to Stewart, where he remains awaiting his fate.

Mildred and her story with Rodney came to the attention of El Refugio when she stopped at the Welcome House in the town of Lumpkin. (This special house was bought and furnished by a famous woman with heart, Samantha Bee. It is maintained and staffed by volunteers on weekends under the guidance of the director of El Refugio, Amilcar Valencia).

Mildred was beyond distraught and upset, with her future now broken. She went on to organize a march in Atlanta with the many people who know and support Rodney. She has reached out to congressional representatives; she has written to everyone she knows and makes the 3.5-hour drive each way to Stewart every weekend for the precious 1 hour a week visit, all that is allowed.

A  visit by Art and Ginny Hultquist on September 28, 2025, found Rodney calm but understandably bewildered by how this could happen in this country to a man brought here in mercy, who went on to live as an honorable, respected man in his community. His future, their future, is unknown.

Charity is no substitute for Justice.  —St. Augustine