A few days ago, all of
us new volunteers went to see another site (other than the two main houses) that
we will be working at called Loretto.
Loretto is a part of a nursing home that has been unused for years and
that has been donated for our use. At
this site, people who have been detained and processed by immigration control
are released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are dropped off to
us. From what I gather, this is possible
because ICE knows who we are and we have a good relationship with them. The people usually coming through were
usually detained by ICE right after crossing the border not through a port of
entry or came without proper papers, or are seeking asylum. There, we offer food, a change of clothes,
showers, and a place to sleep for the night.
The people who usually come through are almost always families,
including nursing mothers. These
families usually have family that is already living in the United States that
they are trying to meet up with, and we help them get to those loved ones. The people that pass through typically have a
phone number for their family, and we help them call their relative and explain
to said relative how to buy a bus or plane ticket for our guest. The people that pass through Loretto may
leave that very day, or may leave after a few days, depending on travel plans.
Not
everyone will be able to stay in the United States, however. They have to check in with an immigration
office in their respective cities/destinations, where their case will be
further processed. There was one woman
from Guatemala that we received yesterday who was nursing a baby. She travelled all the way from her home country,
assumedly by bus with her daughter, to seek a better life in the United
States. She said she was poor, with a
passed husband and father, and I assume she wanted to find a better life here. She had family in Florida, if I remember
correctly, and will be further processed there.
She will probably ultimately end up being deported back to Guatemala,
because poverty is not a good enough reason to be granted residency, as per US
standards. Usually people who are
permitted to stay are seeking asylum, wherein the people must have had
reasonable fear to leave their homes. In
many cases, this is due to extortion.
There
is one woman, Blanca, who recently arrived at Loretto. Blanca has two broken legs. She broke her
legs while trying to get over the border fence into the United States. I was struck when I found this out; what
situation must this woman be coming from to lead her to take such a risk? I mean she literally broke her bones trying to get here.
Not only that, but she came all the way from Ecuador, taking a month and a half to get here. There was another woman that came in with her
family, and though I didn’t understand much, I understood that there were men
that had entered her home who held guns to her family’s head, including her
own. After hearing about where Blanca and some of the others came from and what
efforts they made in getting here, it makes me realize 1) how lucky I am, and
how grateful I am to have lived the safe, blessed life that I do and 2) I know
way too little about what is happening on this half of the world.
I
do not see Loretto as a place of sadness, though. I see it as a place of hope. There is a playroom for children there, and I
went into it to play with some of the kids.
There were two toddler boys and a seven year old girl, and two
fathers. I spoke with one of the
fathers, Benjamin, who is 33 and is the father of the 7 year old, and I could
feel it, the hope. He liked showing us
some of his knowledge of English words (which I was impressed with because
many, if not most, people who pass through here can’t speak any), and he had
this light in his eyes and a smile on his face.
I don’t know what it was like in his home in Guatemala, but now he was
so close to a new life. He wants to
learn English, he said. And that wish may soon come true, because he left that
same day for a relative’s home in Georgia.
To
be quite honest, I get a little emotional over the process. It is something so incredible to behold. We get to see people that have picked up
their lives, their families, and travelled maybe days (or weeks/months, like
Blanca) from their homes on a bus with young kids, with little to nothing with
them; I don’t even know if they had money to meet all of their food needs on
their journey. And then they get to the border of the United States. I can imagine looking at it, whether it be a
port or a fence, and seeing the last obstacle between the life I left behind
and hope for a better future, especially for my children. When we get them, we get to see them go off
to that new life, even be a part of their journey, and I can only hope that
they find what they’re looking for and keep it.
Until next time, I send
all my love,
Casey
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