A man who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month in Saco is back home in Maine after posting a $2,000 bond.
Makengo Nzeza left behind a wife who was recovering from an emergency C-section, a baby who was still in the hospital and three other young children.
Concerned that his detention could go on for months, members of their church stepped in to help. And on Sunday he returned to church to thank them.
Even Pastor Scott Cousineau of the First Parish Congregational Church said he wasn't sure if Nzeza, known by everyone as Makengo, would be up for a Sunday service. He'd only been released a few days earlier in Massachusetts. But as Cousineau waited by the main entrance, a smile spread across his face when Makengo and his family suddenly appeared. Other parishioners hurried over to greet them.
In an interview, Makengo echoed what others have reported around the country: that conditions in ICE detention are "very bad."
"I was sleeping on the floor. It was too cold...no good condition on sanitation," he said.
An asylum seeker from Angola, Makengo has lived in Maine for the past eight years. He said his ordeal began on January 23rd when he was pulled over and arrested at gunpoint by federal agents. He was then driven four or five hours to a facility in Burlington, Massachusetts where he was detained with more than 45 other men. They were given water and snacks, he said. But over the next six days there was very little to eat. It was crowded. There were no beds or blankets. Eventually, he was transferred to a county jail in Plymouth.
"I was there for almost two weeks...My hearing bond (bond hearing) was on February 5," he said.
About a week after his hearing, Makengo's $2,000 bond had not yet been posted by a local non-profit. So, Carol Spencer-Lemay, a friend of the family and fellow parishioner drove down to Massachusetts to personally post it and bring him home. She said she didn't want him to spend another weekend in jail.
"I posted the bond and I'm sponsoring him so I feel obligated to help," Spencer-Lemay said. "But, it's more than obligation, it's love. I mean I love the family so I want to help out. It's part of my calling as a child of God."
While he was in jail, the church set up a Go Fund Me for Makengo that has raised more than $55,000. They arranged meals for his family and rides to the hospital for his wife to visit their baby, tutored the children and did chores around the house. He said plenty of other people also helped out.
"I get good support from Maine community in general and my church and Rev. Scott and African community, too, Rotary Club...It was good support for me to help with this process."
Makengo said he knows he is fortunate which is why during Sunday service he asked to say a few words. As Pastor Cousineau, called him up to the front of the church, everyone rose to their feet and applauded.
First, Makengo thanked God. And then he spoke to his First Parish family.
"Your support was quite full," he told them. "I want to pray for you again, again, again, all my life," he said. "Thank you."
Afterward, Cathy Baillargeon, who's been helping the family, said it lifted her spirits to see Makengo reunited with his wife and children, including the new baby now home from the hospital. But she also thinks about other detainees.
"You do feel like - I wish I could do more. I wish I could help them all," she said. "And I wish they'd all have the same amount of support that we were able to give Makengo, Lidia and the family."
Makengo said he plans to return to work in a few days and to meet with his attorney before his next court hearing later this month. Unless he is granted asylum he said he knows he won't ever be safe.
