Leelanau residents Barb Schneider and BJ Christensen write with moral clarity about their visit with a 26-year old Venezuelan named Edwin at GEO Group’s North Lake Detention Center in Baldwin, 80 minutes from Leelanau County. There are approximately 1,500 detainees housed there in ICE’s largest detention center in the Midwest. Schneider and Christensen learned that about 82 percent had committed no crime and have not had visitors for months. Edwin is the sole provider for his family: his wife, newborn, and mother are here in the U.S. He sends money for food to Venezuela for his father and grandfather.
