Last Tuesday, I went for the second time to observe an immigration hearing in downtown Manhattan, as part of a coalition of groups whose work seems inspired by Central American accompaniment strategies. Besides providing a friendly presence to people in horrible circumstances, the point of going is to collect names and emergency contact numbers — so that if someone ends up disappeared, they won’t disappear as completely.

When I entered Courtroom 7 on the 14th floor of 26 Broadway, an Ecuadorian refugee — I’ll call him Andrés — was sitting before Judge Deborah Klahr (who, like all Immigration Court judges, is actually an attorney appointed by the Justice Department). Klahr was in the process of informing Andrés that the government had recommended he be deported.

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