Hi Rosaville, what a delight to be talking to you. It's been so long since we've had a conversation. Give me one fact about New Zealand today. Thankfully, after a really cold spell, lots of flooding. It's a really lovely summery day. That's the main batch defining my day. That's so nice. It's like after Noah got off the ark, after all the storm and God or Jesus put a big rainbow in the sky, it's a bit like that, isn't it? It's exactly what came to mind for me as well. Noah, and it was the music awards last night at the tapes. Oh, the big night, the Grammys of the New Zealand music scene. Who was the big winner? Not to demean it. It is an amazing night. Who was the big winner, Rosaville? Can you tell us? Marlon Williams, one of the big main awards. Oh, talented, hot, he's got it all, doesn't he, Marlon? He does have it all. And now he's got a big win under his belt, he's unstoppable. I don't know why I'm in this mood today. We're doing quite a bleak episode today. It's about Evely, the New Zealander in Iced Attention, me and Rob go to visit her. I'm just wondering on the ground, I know you're not across every element of the news, but what's the feeling in New Zealand about her? Is it talked about or is it kind of this distant thing? Does no one care? I think people definitely are aware of it as being covered in New Zealand media as well, and a lot of my friends and social posting about it. I mean, I think there was already a prevailing anxiety about travelling to the US. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's been one of the main feelings when I've talked about travelling to Texas recently. It's been like, why did you go to America? Ah, yeah, right. They're like, Roosevelt, what the hell. And you said, I went to America to appear on one of the best podcasts out there, Flightless Bird. I'm David Farrier in New Zealand accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Now, last week, we brought you the story of Evely in New Zealander, who's been living in beautiful Wisconsin since she was six. After her father was brought over by Wisconsin Central Railway to be a train driver. Evely had come and gone from the US ever since, but when returning nearly four weeks ago, she was stopped by ice, and then sent off to an ice detention facility where she's been locked up ever since. Well, lots of updates over the last week, which is why we want to update you today. She's had her first appearance in front of a judge, and Rob went to meet with Evely. She's just friendly face she'd seen from the outside since being locked up. So I lost to talk about, it gets pretty weird, and we'll try to make sense of it all. So, grip that American green card tight, and realize that it doesn't really mean all that much anymore, because this is the ice detention center episode. Hi Rob, how are you? Good, David, how are you? Good, it is about 8.30 p.m. on a Wednesday night. The 29th is your record this. We went and we drove together on a Friday, which now seems like a long time ago. Yeah, the last thing a week, but it seems a long time ago. Why is that happening? Is it because we're busy or the world is sort of just a lot of noise? I think it's our busyness. Yeah, we've done a lot since then. There's been a lot. This is our third recording since going there. Yeah, because we do, we do Patreon recordings, we do episode recordings. We did a nest session. We did a nest session as well, which is coming out soon. I mean, it's good to be busy, it's crowded. Yes. It's a lot. Yeah, I don't know that there's a whole lot to cover before we jump into this doc since the doc is kind of the catch up. Completely. On this one, I will say I have a friend that I known since I was 18. He had kind of a similar situation to Everly. However, he left America almost 10 years ago now because he found out he was not here legally. Oh, so he had that revelation most living in America? Yes, but grew up here. Yeah. And he lives in New Zealand now and he's kind of waiting for that window to be up where he can come back to America. Yeah. He's been following this story because he lives in New Zealand now. And I know who you're talking about and we've talked about doing an episode because it's kind of like a reverse flight this bird thing, but his situation is so sensitive. It's not something you want to blast to the airwaves. Yeah, but his whole family is here. Yeah. It was this countdown to when he felt like it would be safe to come return here without any repercussions potentially. But I think this story, I talked with him yesterday, is kind of reignited. Yeah, the fear around it. Coming here and being stuck in a similar situation. Yeah. Which I think is really just speaks largely to what the intent behind all of this is is just scare tactics. For people trying to come here that this small group of Americans are saying they don't want. Yeah, if you're any kind of outsider, you're not welcome here anymore. Pretty much in these horror stories are just not necessarily that they're happening to every single person. But they're being used as like an example of why why don't even bother to come here because this could happen to you. I hadn't thought about it in that way until you said it and you get case studies from almost every country right. There's been the Canadian that just happened to New Zealanders. There was an Australian kid. It's like there are case studies all over the place and yeah, there are warnings. Yeah, and I mean, I was kind of having the conversation with him that I don't. I don't think it's happening on every single flight and every single airport and every single city. No, from every single country. But when it happens, you certainly hear about it and when it happens, it's horrific and awful. Yeah, and it doesn't make it any less scary. Completely. And not to diminish people that it is happening to as well because clearly we're speaking to someone today that it did happen to. Yeah, but I know exactly what you mean. It's like a random, almost assortment of very spread out individuals. And when it happens, it's loud. You hear about it and that offers a warning to everybody else. And makes everyone freaked out, let your buddy who wants to come back to the States. Yeah, to see his family's freaking families here. Okay. We recorded a bunch of audio when we went to visit Everly and I'm going to play that now. Yeah, let's take a field trip. Rob and I have been driving for about two hours to a place we've never been before. A place we've never even heard of. It was a windy, hilly drive, it all felt pretty desolate on the way. No gas stations, no McDonald's, just roads and desert. Do you want to describe the town we're in right now? The town there's not a lot here. It's kind of like going to Joshua Tree or something. It's very desert-y and there's two big strip malls. Yeah, it's Adelanto. Adelanto, Adelanto, California. Yeah, we drove through a lot of desert and mountaineer, California landscapes to get here. And there's kind of like, pop, there's a town. I called the facility yesterday just to double check what facility it was because there's a man's in a woman's. And so got the right facility and I double checked because I'd heard from Ebles family that there were certain visiting hours and they'd sent through a little roster, so I double checked that we had the right time. And so the window is 3 to 6 pm. And when I called, the guy was relatively helpful. He was sort of surprisingly so he sounded kind of upbeat. And I said, "Is there anything we need to do? Does Rob need to be on the visitors list or anything?" And he just said, "No, turn up as long as he is wearing shoes and is not in ripped jeans." And I said, "Sir, I think we've already got a problem." Yeah, you asked if I wanted to borrow clothes and you didn't have anything that didn't match that description. So yeah, Rob got ourselves together. Rob is looking very presentable. And yeah, we don't really know what to expect. But I guess I drop you off in the car park, you wander in and just see how it all goes. And Ebles family has sent through a bunch of little messages and things to pass on. And the weird thing in this is that you're the first visitor she's had from the outside because she's in the middle of nowhere. Her family is either in Wisconsin or New Zealand. And so yeah, it's kind of a odd thing. There's an odd thing, all of this is odd. We're turning into a rancho road. And the first thing we can see is a massive cannabis to speed three. Like big, like a Chipotle store or something. Yeah, big green, giant yellow lettering. And there appears to be a competitive dispensary across the street as well as you get a little further down.
which is yeah a bit on the nose when you consider one of the things that they're holding over heavily is some sort of weed charge that was taken care of a long time ago. It's just so so silly that and yeah the government the government issuing too many green cards. God forbid and then there's like normalcy like a post office right there. It's like normal things, post office, bank but mostly just a desert. You planning to just kind of monologue the whole time I'm gone? I will podcast monologue sort of observing things deep thoughts about the topic and life. No it's weird it's like it's funny I yeah it's funny having you trotting in there and I can't go in. I'd like to go in with you but also I guess I'm grateful I don't have to have the anxiety of wandering into this fucking place. So I think yeah thanks for going in. It's a weird thing to do. Yeah instead you're gonna pass things out to me. It's the best thing to do with anxiety is to give it to somebody else. Okay we're gonna drive in I'm gonna put the microphone down as a checkpoint approaches. We don't particularly want anyone asking what we're doing with a microphone so we throw it under the seat for a bit. Alright so we've just parked up in the east wing which is the woman's wing and I guess this is where I bid you farewell Robert. Yep I'll see you a little bit. This is me doing my monologue bit I guess. I watch Rob stroll off into what I can only describe as a prison. There are multiple big fences adorned with copious amounts of razor wire. It's stinking hot sitting in the car and I'm reminded that we're in the middle of the maharvi desert. After 30 minutes of waiting I get out of the car and walk around a bit. I take in the fences and the barbed wire. The men's facility is off to my left. The woman's is in front of me. It's painted blue. Some prison staff come and go. Some of them clutching their little bags of lunch. Some families also come and go. I should in and out. And I notice three flags proudly flying on the roof. There's a Californian state flag. I know that one. There's the American flag. I know that one by now. And then there's another flag. The same size as the others. The flag of the Geo group. Geo is the largest private prison operator in the US and they'll be making a shit ton out of this place. Eventually after what feels like a very long time, Rob emerges and my monologue ends. How did it go? You're in there for about an hour and a half. What happens when you walk in there? Yeah. So you walked on a big long fence. Signs for visitors and then one direction prohibited all over. And then getting to the visitor center. There is signs everywhere. No phones or recording. Go to the desk. And probably the man you talk to. Very helpful, friendly man asked who I was there to see. Took my passport, gave me a locker key to put all my electronics in and said to wait like a doctor's waiting room. You wait in a waiting room. Big bang series on the TV in the corner. Roosevelt's favorite show. Literally. Makes sense. And two women, man and woman, and then two lawyers clearly. Lawyers are sitting there talking frustrated. Obviously they're talking about judges and how awful this one judge was and sending back cases and this and that. And then I heard overheard the other woman say that she'd been waiting there two hours already to talk to someone. And that this is typical. The other one was there for four hours. These are the lawyers. But few minutes later, they called in visitors. So it was very quick. Go through a metal detector. And then very much prison. Show your visitor badge. There's five of us. Woman buzzes one door. It shuts. Buzzes the other door. Waiting this hallway for the visiting person to come let you into the room we did. And it was chairs and tables kind of scattered around. There's two other women in there aside from Everly. So there's that little tables and chairs. Yeah. Not the most comfortable chairs. Small tiny tables. And was it really waiting for you when you walked in? Yeah. Everly was in their waiting and two other women were waiting. She was great. She smiley energetic. It was happy to have a visitor and someone to talk to. I didn't give her the context of you. It was just this little loony tune. She said her family did say that of all the stuff that they've read, yours was the best representation of what had happened and wrote about it in a meaningful way. But also kept saying that you need to be careful. It was pretty much David. That David guy's got to be careful. She talked me through again what happened when she got to LAX. Pretty much similar to how her mom had described it. Yeah. And just insistently lied to about everything that was going to happen. And even by the time she got to where she was going, got her phone, was able to call her mom. She told her mom and dad, "I'm going to be out in 24 hours." They said, "I'll talk to someone. You guys just fly home. I'll figure out getting back. Don't miss your flight over this. I'll put a new one." She was feeling positive and they had this to get resolved. Yeah. She has what she's been told. Yeah. No reason to think otherwise. And still has not talked to anyone. This is 13 days in there. Still has not talked. She just talked to a judge on Tuesday. She said that's going to be at least another month until they have everything they need. Fucking hell. And she said that there's posters and stuff in the waiting room too. In the waiting room, there's these posters on the wall that are, they're almost like inspirational posters, but also promoting the amenities of the facility. So there was lounge with TVs, yard, doctors, medication rooms. Yeah. Look how great this facility is. Yes. Very bizarre. So within the facility, I really said that they have posters up about self deportation. You can just do that if you pretty much no hope. I'm just going to go back. They'll give you $2,600. And you can self deport. You're likely signing some paper that says like, I'm not going to come back. So at that point, it's like, I just want to get out of here. And I'm going to do this. She said that she probably only has three months in her before she wants to decide to do that. You know, it's going to be my question. She's obviously like a very bubbly, smiley person by default, but how long can someone like that just be waiting in a, because that's the thing. It's a limbo. It's not having any certainty about anything, right? Yeah. No answers. And everyone in there is like that. No one knows what's going on. They're in prison jumpsuits. She told me it was everly and two other women in the visiting room. So there was a Russian woman talking to two family members in an orange jumpsuit, which everly was in an orange jumpsuit. That means non-violent criminal. And then the other woman in there was in a red jumpsuit. And red means violent criminal for violent offense. She said that everyone in there, there are some tensions, but people are taking care of each other. She said she slept the first two days and woke up and people were making sure that her food had been piled up until she needed to have water. And that there's been some annoying 46 people in there, like it's roommates. And people are annoyed with each other. There's a thing called a kite. You can write a note, submit that as a complaint, a complaint box, and then someone will maybe get moved. So her room's 46. They've got different sections of the women's facility. She thinks there's about 200. And then the building next to them is the men's facility, which has over 1,000 is what they think. The yard situation, when you're walking to the visitor center and you can kind of see over to the right, the yard, the men's have like a big soccer field and they're kind of overlooking this vast desert area and a bunch of workout equipment. She said the women's yard is situated between two buildings. So it's very bleak, not like being outside. There are a lot out there twice a day, but the second time is usually too hot and gross out there. So in the morning, she likes to go out there. There's an old woman that she's friends with and spend time with. Did she talk to like the fact that other people know about her situation, the media in New Zealand or the media in America? Like was she aware that people like are aware of her story? She knows. But I think she's got other things on her mind and she just trying to sort her shit out. Well, I'm not even that. I think she's just mentally trying to cope with being in there without knowing anything. She was talking about how like a prison, when you go into prison, you know you're going there, you're there for a reason. You know what next steps are, how long you're going to be there. This is just a giant unknown for everyone that's there. She said since she's been here the last two weeks, seven women have left. Two got habeas corpus, which means they were able to go back to the states where they were. The other
Others got deported or self-deported to self-deported and then the rest got deported. But even when you decide to self-deported get deported, she said you have to wait. Like it's unknown when you leave because if a plane is going to Salvador, they need enough to fill a plane. So. Still limbo even when you're out of limbo. Yeah. And there's women in there that have been there for a year. Fucking hell. Months, months and months and don't have people nearby, a woman from Florida that was flown to here and stopped a bunch of times on the way to pick up more people. And she gets out, she doesn't know how she can go back to Florida. Did she want anything? I mean, I think they're still figuring out the lawyer thing. I think that's a way that we can help. I was like, "Is there anything you want me to pass on to your family?" and she's like, "I talked to them all the time. I talked to them almost more." Did before? Yeah. So, I mean, I think the communication to her family and people are like, "She's connected there, but I think it is still just the fuck is going on." And they're worse than prisoners here because they're just in limbo. Did you get. You said like when you walked in, she was bubbly. Did you get a feeling overall whether she has hope for staying and keeping this life in America or she's thinking, "I don't know, I do, or get me to New Zealand?" Do you have a sense of where her head's at? She wants to stay here. She has a life here, but I think best case, it's like three to six months in her mind that she's going to be here. Yeah, but in my mind, it feels like maybe two more weeks or something, it just stretches out. I think at minimum, she was like, "Tuesday, I will talk to a judge, and then a month later than maybe we'll have things sorted in a situation that we can make progress, and I can have an answer." I would imagine the hope is hard to keep in there, and I think that's mostly what she needs I think is some sort of hope that there is a way to get out. Right. That hadn't really struck me the fact that in prison, you know what you're there, there's a timeline, kind of, there's rules here, it's just like a weird purgatory of light, nothing. Yes, and she did explain to me, so there's the prisoners, there's a middle group of people that were green, and then there's the upper people which are the ice. She said the people in the middle are very nice, like the visitor lady, they're not part of ice, they are contractors that are here. She kept saying the woman, the one running in the visitor center, very nice, but it's when the ice guys in the suits come, that's when trouble comes, it's there, the ones that do not have respect for the people in there, treat them like they're not humans. Yeah. And how did it wrap up? Do you have times that just like you have your chat and you leave, how did it wrap up with her? We just sat there and talked for a while, and we got a 10 minute warning, so it's like a timed section. Yeah. About half an hour. I went in about three, probably got into the actual visit, a visitation room at 330 and then out at 4.30, so an hour a slot. How did it compare with what you pictured, how does it, you've described it really well, but how did it defer, was it sort of what you expected it to be? The actual setting was as I expected. It was easy to go in, meet with her, talk with her, there wasn't a long way. It was not a long line, there was unfortunately not a ton of other people waiting to meet, like if 200 people are in there and visitations on Fridays once a week, and I saw two other people that were conept and detained talking to the family. That means there's 197 that weren't able to meet with someone. Part feels bleak and a little more depressing. We are far away from anything, like it's a mission to get here, even if you're in Los Angeles it's a mission. Yeah, she was very grateful that we drove two hours, she was like, I can't believe you guys drove two hours and I was like, car is nothing, that's like the least we can drive to make sure you're okay and that you have someone that you know is trying to look out for you out here. She knew she was here on a green card and was careful. She was outspoken about Palestine, but she had friends that were like, do you want to go to this ice march and she was like, I want to stay out of trouble. Like I understand my status here is this and like she wasn't causing trouble, she wasn't stirring shit. She did tell me when she was, we heard the story of the ice agent at the airport trying to get her to sign that paperwork and they had a food basket and they were like, just help yourself while you wait and she waited five hours and she said she just tore through they're like, well, they said help myself and she just ate everything and then they came in and they were like, you can't eat all of this and she's like, well, they don't need to help myself. Like, I'm going to keep five hours, good on her, fuck us. Yeah, five hours, I'm going to keep eating snacks. Oh, fucking hell. I mean, it is, I even like you, I know you're coming out, but it's like it's even weird seeing you disappear in there and like with no contact. So it takes a few, it's like it's an hour and a half, it's like, yeah, it's like not a nice feeling to see anyone going there. Yeah, it was like being in a prison. I mean, with this map, there's a bail and immigration bonds place next to a weed dispensary. She said the hardest part is when people are brought in, people are coming in under distress and emotional and they don't know what's going on and there's a younger woman from India in there with her that is crying all the time. It's 20 to all this being in their 50s and one day the Indian girl asked her like, well, how are you not crying? And she's like, I am. I'm just doing it when I'm in the bathroom and not letting them see this and Everly said that she's been making her own mascara because if she cries, it burns her eyes. So she wears it so that she can't cry and the Indian girl was like, can you put some of the mascara on me? And she did her makeup and has just seen her like fanning her eyes trying to stop crying. So it's a community in there and everyone's going through this together and no one knows what the fuck's going on. Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird, we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Support for Flightless Bird comes from Aura Frames. 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I mean, it really just seems clear that they are trying to make people feel hopeless. They want to break them down, leave them in the dark, make it seem like they're going to get stuck there and self-deport, like expect that they're paying for flights, giving them money and sending them off. That's how you get out. Don't go through the process of trying to fight to be here, just get out. When you consider Emily, she's been there for 30 years in Wisconsin. She's got a dog, she's got family, she's got friends, she's got a job, she loves. Yeah, and posters now that she's looking at every day, saying, "Hey, get out of here. We don't want you here, leave." I mean, it's not as simple as Olga Batch New Zealand. She doesn't have a life in New Zealand, her life is in America. That's the same. Family's here, she's got siblings expecting kids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the facility, it is prison, like for all intents and purposes, it's, I mean, it's barbed wire everywhere, two layers of gates, patrols going round, it's all of that. And then the facility is wearing the GEO uniforms, like that's the people helping at the front desk, that's the woman running the visitation. Uh huh. Like those are the nice, the ones that aren't treating them like shit, it's the privatized prison company that is just hiring out these people to run it. Yeah. And from my perspective on the outside, because there wasn't much to do out there, that flag did really capture my attention, you've got this giant American flag, giant California flag. And exactly the same size, a GEO flag. It's very, uh, yeah, the flag of a company, a private prison company that will be making money off all of this, like they need those beds full to reach their quota to make their money. Yeah. Um, and she did say, so there's bathrooms in the room, or in the area that they're staying, and it's just curtains, uh huh, instead of doors, and then there's a bubble where there's a guard that's just watching them at all times. Um, so is that constant surveillance always have violence, no alone time? And then there's also, uh, guard that's sitting in there with them 24/7. Chase. Yeah. That like is kind of making conversation with them, like not just sitting there, like kind of hanging out. But it's that thing of never getting any time to yourself in any way you're with people all the time when there's always a guard there when it's terrorized, traumatized women in there too. Um, and I think every time new people come in there dealing with, like, what is going on? I don't know why I'm here. Yeah. I think that young 20 year old that came in that you spoke about near the end, is a perfect example of that. There's new people coming in just incredibly upset, being comforted by the other woman that are in there as they try and figure out what the hell is going on. Yeah. Yeah. It's awful. So since we went, um, there's been a few updates. I talked to, uh, Betty, Evely's mum a few days ago now, and the first thing we talked about is the fact that since we visited, uh, Evely has had her first appearance in front of a judge. Yeah. So, um, Evely went in front of the judge today and she said he was just so rude to everybody there. And I said, you know, I went, you know, some people in positions of power feel like they need to abuse that. Uh-huh. Yeah. And I said, that's to be expected. And I said, you just need to like, just take it. And she goes, yeah, I just keep quiet and I was polite and I answered, you know, the questions he was asking. And so because she didn't have legal counsel today, it's actually going to be June 10th as her next court appearance. So yeah, Evely is going to be in there until at least June 10th at the moment. I don't know like real answers as to why they're holding her. That was my next question about what is going on exactly and why they're holding her. Yeah. Cause that, that was, I mean, what I've asked her right away was, do you have any answers and it was no, like no idea. She has suspicions of what it is. But I've had no one, two weeks being detained in a prison. No one has told you why you're there and you can't even ask is seems like a human rights violation to me. And the thing is if you remember when she arrived at LAX from her time away in New Zealand, the thing they called up her on immediately was you have had too many green cards issued to you by the government. That was just an excuse to sort of get her aside by the sounds of it. Then they saw the flag that she had a previous conviction 10 years ago to do with the marijuana and that's what I talked to about Betty next because that's where they're looking now. So I asked him if I could tell you and he goes, sure. So he was a prosecutor and he's looked at Evely's record. And so her first, she had two offenses for drugs. The first one was she had paraphernalia, which was a misdemeanor. And then she was traveling in the car that was pulled over and there was marijuana in the car. Not necessarily who's but because she's in the vehicle with it, it's all of theirs. And he's like, I'm just amazed that this has happened. He goes paraphernalia and then this makes it a felony. He goes, he goes, we got to look at that. And he said that the, that the misdemeanor wasn't even listed in the court case. So he goes, there's some holes in there that he can poke at. And then he said the next thing is in 2010, there was a law passed because there was something had happened with an immigrant who wasn't told what would happen to his immigration status if he pled guilty. So there was a law passed that every judge and every lawyer has to tell their client if they're an immigrant, what would happen to their immigration status. And it has to be told that in court and the lawyer has to notify their client. This lawyer never notified Evily and it was never announced in court. And so the lawyer says, oh, I'm going to dig up. He's looking for the transcript because he's going to look through it. But he told us to ask Evily and Evily goes, no, but the lawyer did ask me what's your greatest worry. And she said, I'm scared to be, you know, they'll be deported. And he told her, you don't have to worry about that. That's going to be fine with me here, you're not, you're not going to have to worry about that. Yeah. Incredible. Yeah, bad advice, right? Or inaccurate advice. An accurate advice. But the funny thing, the lawyer sends me this email and he goes, this is the attorney that Evily had. Uh huh. And we clicked on the link and it was a link to the post-crescent. This lawyer has been disbied, he's in jail for lying to clients and getting them to plead to a higher charge and for forging a judge's signature. Oh my goodness. And he goes icing on top is that the year that he was charged was the year that he, that Evily went to court. So all that was happening at the same time? Yeah. So don't want to get to into the weeds, haha of like what's going on here, but it's like, finally I do a pun and it seems inappropriate. Yeah. And you got to know when to do it. You got to know when to do it. Yeah. You're right. So not to get into it too much, but essentially they have a lawyer now, which is great. The lawyer is looking back at what happened in this court case 10 years ago, has found that Evily got pretty terrible advice back then about what this meant when she pled and what it meant for her immigration status wasn't informed. And so they're sort of looking, I think at that old thing that happened 10 years ago, so that when they go in front of a judge in June, they can kind of present exactly what happened. Yeah. Why it was somewhat dicey because this lawyer is now, you know, her legal counsel back then is now disparate. I've seen the headline years like long gone. But I think the great thing is they have a lawyer who's deeply engaged and looking at exactly what advice she was given 10 years ago, what she pled to, what that means. And certainly just reinforcing that Evily had no idea this would have any influence on her immigration status and her green card status. It was like, Daluth, it was done. She could come and go in a green card as she pleased, nothing changed. She's been in and out of the country since and there's been no problems. Yeah. In particular instance, where they pull her aside and go, hey, something's flagged here. The next thing I talked to Betty about is how she's feeling about all this because obviously she's going to be in there for more weeks. Yeah. You know, she's there all of me and then she's only appearing in early June. So she's going to be in there for a while. Stay tuned for more flight this bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Support for flight this bird comes from Pestee. Now I don't know about you, but doing something myself around the house, my own DIY project feels so, so satisfying. Whether it's like fixing a tap or putting a shelf up, doing it yourself feels so, so good. And when it comes to bugs in your house, then Pestee feels very similar to other DIY projects. It's the best way.
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And again, the kit includes a sprayer, a mixing bag, pesticide gloves and instructions, you can complete in under 10 minutes. Keep the bugs away with Pestee. Go to Pestee.com/Bird for an extra 10% off your order. That's P-E-S-T-I-E.com/Bird for an extra 10% off. Support for Flightless Bird comes from Helix. Now Helix has been a sponsor of our show right from the beginning and there's a reason for that. The mattresses are just really great. I have a Midnight Lux mattress and I love it because it helps with my dicey old man back. I love sleeping on my Helix mattress and it has over 20 mattress models you can choose from to find the perfect model for you. So whether you're just upgrading from your old mattress or maybe you're having something entirely new, I really recommend Helix because a good night's rest sets you up for a really great day. And yeah, why wouldn't you invest in your sleep? We spend so much time sleeping, why not make it a good sleep? And a study there ran found that 82% of those involved saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle while sleeping on a Helix mattress. What else is good about Helix? Well, free shipping and seamless delivery delivers your mattress straight to your door with free shipping in the US and you get a 120 night sleep triad with a limited lifetime warranty. It's seamless returns and exchanges, they're happy with Helix guarantee offers a risk-free customer first experience as long to ensure you're completely satisfied with your new mattress. And it's also the most awarded mattress brand tested and reviewed by experts like Forbes and Wired. So go to helixleap.com/bird for 27% off site wide exclusive for flightless bird listeners. That's helixleap.com/bird for 27% off site wide helixleap.com/bird. Tell us every feeling about this, because obviously it's still a time period that she has to spend in that facility, in that prison, how is she feeling? She's pretty, it's hard for her, she calls us and she tries to stay optimistic. We have to kind of boy her up some days, other days she's, she's up and down, I guess sometimes it just things wear on her and then kind of brings her down a bit. Her last meltdown was, she's worried about her dog, her apartment, her cow payments, all these things. And we just have to tell her that anything on the outside is what is for us to take care of and we will, we'll take care of it. She just has to worry about what's going on inside and just worry about herself and keeping herself together. That's the weird thing, right? Your life goes on without you. She has a job, I'm wondering, I didn't think to talk to Betty at the time, but what is happening with her job? How long does she keep that for before they're like, we've got to let you go? Especially if she's been wrongfully held. Yeah. And then, remember, we don't know how long. I mean, hoping that June 10 is the date that something happens and she can get out of there, but there's no given at all that that will be the case. Yeah. I mean, it seems like June 10th, like just when the timeline can start completely when you're in front of the judge again, when she can get a date in two months to actually, at least she has a lawyer now. Yeah. That's like the one good thing and all of this. Finally, the thing I wanted to talk to Betty about was whether there was any help from New Zealand at all because, you know, Everly's been living in the States for 30 years. She's still a New Zealand citizen. She hasn't got citizenship here in the States. I was curious is New Zealand being at all helpful in getting her out of there? Yeah, because if you're traveling to another country and you get put into prison, I would hope that there'd be some help from embassy. You would hope so. Yeah. I mean, I always have that in the back of my head. There's something goes horribly wrong for Dave Ferrier called the New Zealand embassy. You saw them in the flight of the Concord. They had Murray working in the Consulate office. Yeah. Surely they'll help. Is there been any real outreach from, in fact, the Consulate or anything like that? Oh my gosh. Anything real there? Any emails or any contact of any kind? So they, sorry, I don't mean to work you up about this. I just tried, like, they irritate me so much. Yeah, you want to be, you don't want to, yeah, explode. You just want to be, um, I don't, I just want to be just articulate about this. So Evely tried calling them several times. So she's, since she's been in something, there's a lump that's developed in her back. So she's been asking for medical help, right? They're not giving it, they're not doing anything about that. So she's been calling the Consulate and they have not been returning her calls. So Redden, my daughter, gets on there and she's calling them, my turn is next. So finally someone, she's talking to somebody and he goes, oh, you know, we've been trying to call her, but she doesn't, she hasn't been able to answer. And Redden's like, how, how are you doing that? Mm-hmm. You know, if you can't reach her, then maybe you should go and visit her because that's part of your job. Mm-hmm. You know, and he goes, well, you know, and we've been, so they called maybe last week or the week before to see how we were. Yeah, not great, not great. I mean, I don't, I mean, are you meant to be helping Evely and he goes, yeah, I don't see how this is helping her, so I don't, I don't know, I just, maybe it's because the New Zealand Consulate has no teeth in this, you know, they can't do too much. Get it, yeah, get involved, but there's been no offer of, no, like in no offers of legal help or anything sort of specific and real. Nothing, no offers of help, no offers. And then, you know, you look at their hours and it's nine to three. Yeah, pretty short, lazy day, isn't it? And I know New Zealanders, they're going to want their lunch break and they're going to want, you know, morning and afternoon tea. And a really, a really stupid question, but nothing from Winston Peters or Christopher Luxon or anyone like that. No, nothing from Winston. I didn't, I didn't expect there to be. So I can hear you saying, Rob, who the hell is Christopher Luxon and who's Winston Peters? I mean, this is like, this is the idea. I think that New Zealand is still governed by Jacinda Ardern, who is this incredible female leader. We had for quite a long time. I know that's not true. We got her here now, right? She is, she wasn't a state. She's now in Australia. I can't keep up, but she's spent a lot of time here. New Zealand is currently led by three. I would describe them as quite sort of annoying men. It's much more of a right leaning government than when Jacinda was around. Chris Luxon is the Prime Minister. Winston Peters is our Minister of Foreign Affairs and they're both done absolutely nothing. And as we were called, this last night, Winston Peters is on the news, being questioned by journalists about this and essentially said, we don't give a shit about her. She didn't declare this horrific drug offense that she had 10 years ago. So we wash our hands of it. So New Zealand is being completely, it's a bummer. I think of New Zealand as being this really cool, wonderful place. I should note that the consulate and impact in the past in New Zealand have been very helpful about helping some white influences when they got into trouble on various trips. But with Emily, who is not white and who is brown, it is almost an attitude of you got yourself into this mess so you get yourself out, which is just a shitty, because now I'm like, I'm annoyed at America and I'm annoyed at New Zealand as well. The cool people in the story are like, I love Betty, I love all of Emily's family that I speak to. You've met Emily in the face, she's cool, right? Like, just trying to figure this shit out. So look, we will keep you updated on what's happening with Emily in future episodes, even any episodes of our other topics will update you as things come to hand. I want to know when Evely gets out of there. I want to know how the case is going and as we find that out, we'll pass it on to you listening. Yeah, I mean, the annoying thing is going to be how slow this all moves. I mean, there's not going to be much of an update to at least June 10th. Exactly. Yeah, that's what it seemed like from her, like, it was this holding pattern of, I don't, I don't know anything until I meet with this judge on Tuesday. And now it's, I'm not going to know anything until I meet you.
with them on June 10th and then from there I'm sure it's going to be another date. And you're right, any court stuff or any sort of administrative stuff, even when you're even thinking like in America, when you go to see a doctor to get a referral to the specialist you want to see, you have all these dates set out in front of you and you have the date and they're like, oh, you can, you get your referral, but that will be in two months. Yeah. And then you sort of think, so on two months, when I see that specialist, that will give me the answers I need and then say, no, there'll be something else. And I think it's, it's, you can see this just going on in a very similar way. Yeah. And like I said earlier, it feels like intentionally slow in training to kind of break their will completely. All right. Look, I don't have, we, we had a bunch of feedback from that our last episode last week. Basically, it was all just people giving their, you know, how can we help, what can we do? I'll put the, the GoFundMe, the family has an ushono, it's, that's the best thing you can do. We'll keep updates coming on this podcast. I'll keep writing about it on my news at a web room. And hopefully we'll have some positive news this year. Yeah. If you have feedback, if you have anything around this topic, if you have any added information or insight or just feedback or stuff you want us to pass on, it is always flightlessbroad
[email protected] over on our Patreon this week, which is where you can support the show if you want to. We have an after dark episode where we give some updates on old flightlessbroad episodes. This has been certain storylines that have moved on, including the Home Alone House fake seizure guy. And Kanye West. Kanye, yeah, Kanye West. Yeah, that is over at our Patreon, which is patreon.com/bylisbearer. And you're about to head to New York soon. I am. For the Webby Awards. The big Webby Awards and the glitz and glamour of New York City. Did you, did you get a suit? I am just going to be myself. I'm going to be David Ferrier, flightlessbroad. And I'm just going to, I'll probably, as you see me now, is how I will appear. You're going to wear your chili shorts? I might, the chili shorts might come out. I'm considering a haircut. I'm deeply excited because the night, I think, after the Webby Awards, Boythrob Place, which is a band that I love, if you don't know Boythrob, looks them up on social media that gimmick is kind of ties in with this show in a way. Three American young men in there, they're trying to get their fourth band member, Dishan, who lives in India, to be able to come over. He's trying to get his green card. So the whole gimmick, whether you want to call it a gimmick or that whole thing, they're trying to get a green card for their fourth band member to come over and perform with them live. So how the show is going to work in New York? I don't know. He's like a Zoom performer, they'll probably zoom in Dishan. He's amazing. They're all amazing. These Boyband members, I'm a big fan. So look, I'm excited about the Webby's. I'm curious, do I get to give a speech? Will I, is Best Indie podcast good enough to appear on stage? Clearly you haven't read too much about the Webby Awards. No. What's the deal? We're supposed to submit a five word acceptance speech. Five words. Five words is what you get. And they pick from who's attending some people to come up and do their five words. You make your five words and then they decide. Yeah. Fuck Trump. Fuck ice. Breva, how would that go down with the Webby's? I wonder. I can't bear it. Michael Fine. Love your words. Thanks for listening as always. Thanks to everyone who has emailed in about Italy and it's really neat to see that you care about this stuff and it's a weird fucking thing to talk about. We will see you next week. Stay safe and stay sane and we'll see you soon.
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