'Welcoming the migrant is a work of love'
Four humanitarians who live along the U.S.-Mexico border share their insights into what has carelessly been called a crisis.
One of my obligations here at Border Humanity is to share the voices of people who live and work at the US-Mexico border (and at the Canadian border) as well as the voices of migrants seeking refuge in our country.
While I’m home in upstate New York, I try to watch as many immigration-focused webinars as possible. Humanitarian organizations host these regularly, and it’s a challenge to keep up.
They are crucial to fostering a greater understanding of what is really going on, which won’t happen by watching photo-op grandstanding by politicians who fly in, talk about a “crisis” — or worse, an “invasion” — and then fly back home without breaking a sweat.
Below are some key points from “Telling the Truth about the Border: A Humane Vision for Border Management,” a Feb. 21 webinar hosted by the Center for Migration Studies of New York. CMS advocates for “policies that safeguard the dignity and rights of migrants, refugees, and newcomers.”
Feel free to skim the observations and insights of the four panelists who live and work along the border in Texas, Arizona and California, but I encourage you to watch the hour-long webinar.
Guerline M. Jozef, Founder and Executive Director, Haitian Bridge Alliance, San Diego.
“What we are seeing at the border, if you are not there, you cannot understand,” Jozef said. “Whenever we meet a person, no matter where they are from, they share with us that they are fleeing death in search of life.”
And there’s an added risk for migrants from African or Caribbean countries.
“Black people, they cannot hide because the moment they show up (it’s obvious) they are migrants, they are asylum seekers, they become victims, prey to criminal organizations, smuggling networks and kidnappers.”
“Our (U.S. government) policies, instead of providing the protection, we are using deterrence tactics that once again serve as a weapon of destruction of life.”
Joanna Williams, Executive Director, Kino Border Initiative, Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico.
The faith-based organization has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people who said they fled their communities because of violence and persecution.
A primary reason is the fragmentation of organized crime groups in Mexico and an increased use of “horrific practices” such as drone bombs, which instill fear in communities, Williams said.
“People try really hard to stay in their community, and those kinds of moments of terror is what drives them out now,” she said. And the knowledge that organized crime groups operate with impunity.
“There’s no faith that there will be justice,” she said. “Many of the policies in place assume a level of safety in Mexico … when in reality what we’ve seen is that this violence and impunity dramatically affects both Mexicans themselves and others migrating through the area.”
Most Reverend Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso, and Chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration.
Deterrence policies don't work, Seitz said. “The forces driving persons to flee their homeland are stronger than anything that may block them,” he said.
“Family units should be treated with respect and dignity. … Detaining more people in basically prisons is a horrible experience that leaves lasting scars on families.”
“We have to do better at sharing the stories … that help us recognize the humanity of the people we’re dealing with, that they are not just pawns in this political game, but rather people who share our humanity.”
Dylan Corbett, Executive Director, Hope Border Institute, El Paso.
Corbett said some things are working at the border — effective community organizing, coordination among NGOs, faith-based organizations, local governments and federal agencies.
But there’s plenty that’s not working, including increased enforcement, walls and the CBP One app system of asylum appointments imposed by the Biden administration.
Walls are “immoral and don’t mitigate the flow of migrants, and they’re not going to,” Corbett said.
“The CBP One (app) … is just not cutting it for everyone who needs protection. That’s what the deaths tell us. They’re dying at record rates here in El Paso, more women in particular, than ever.”
“What you’re seeing with the high number of deaths, with the high number of people still crossing the river, crossing the desert, entering irregularly, is just that CBP One is a real systemic failure.”
While local elected officials in El Paso are coordinating with non-governmental organizations, the state government of Texas has threatened to shut down Annunciation House, which has cared for migrants for decades.
“In El Paso we've worked hard to create an efficient welcoming system, and this is something … that the state of Texas is really threatening to destroy.”
On the federal level, recent negotiations in Washington D.C. showed that both Republicans and Democrats have convinced themselves that there’s a “crisis” at the border. And when elected officials are stuck in crisis mode, they no longer see solutions, Corbett said.
“There isn’t a crisis here at the border, at least not the one that you think there is,” he said. “There’s no crisis of immigration. There’s a crisis of imagination, of vision, of human vulnerability, of violence against women, of inequality, racism, political expediency, scapegoating. That’s the crisis.”
Humanitarians have been getting worn down in recent months by the harsh rhetoric and politicization of the border.
“We’re all feeling a little bit spent and helpless now,” Corbett said. “We need to be careful because the fear can't become apathy. It can’t become despair …
“We're not going to stop. The work of welcoming the migrant is a work of love, as Guerline said. It’s the work of hope. It ennobles us, it enriches us, it makes us better people. It’s not a crisis, it’s rebuilding the fabric of a broken America right now, and rebuilding the fabric of a broken Texas.”
Note: Please be careful to not confuse CMS with the Center for Immigration Studies, whose website features testimonials from Fox television personalities and others, like Tom Cotton (R-Ark), former ICE acting director Tom Homan and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.