To kick off the Walk A Week In My Shoes movement, Bluffton alumna Luz Verela ’15 presented on the immigration crisis within the United States. Calling the state of ICE detention centers and the country’s immigration procedures and laws a “crisis” is not just a turn of phrase. Monday night, we were educated on just how despicable our country treats immigrants.
Part of Verela’s work is to oversee abuse within ICE detention centers and report to government officials as well as the public so as to pressure Customs & Border Protection to change our outdated immigration laws.
She interviews children in detention centers regarding abuse inside “processing centers.” She, along with others within her field, has identified and documented violations of human rights such as child molestation, rape, abuse and hysterectomies.
Imagine having to listen to a child recount what was done to them and they not even being old enough to understand that what was done to them was a deep, deep injustice and potential trauma.
What can be done? Why should we do anything? One of the biggest takeaways from this session was that this is not a political or even cultural issue at this point. It is simply an issue of human well-being.
Verela listed a few things that could be done to improve the lives of people targeted by our country’s stigma and fear.
The first thing mentioned was something called “community based management.” A lot of times, immigrants come to join their families here in the states. They come to an existing community––so why not allow them to exist within that community while going through the admission or deportation processes. For those who come with no families in the states, churches have volunteered to house these people.
The main solution presented was to defund ICE and CBP in order to better fund judges. Judges are the only people with the power to deport individuals from other countries.
“If the whole point is to deport as many people as possible, which I am not advocating for that, but I’m saying, wouldn’t it make sense to fund the people that have the power to do that?” Verela said.
Defunding our border protection agencies does not mean leaving our border unguarded. It means showing a desire to live within a system that shifts focus on community well-being as opposed to xenophobia.
Verela strongly encouraged us to do our research on this topic and to inform ourselves on this topic. Americans need to know what is going on. I don’t think most of us would stand for it––if only we knew just how terrible things have been. But now, ignorance is no longer an excuse for you. Our faith and our integrity as an American people are being tested. Let’s rise to the challenge and treat all people with decency and respect instead of fear and violence.
Kai Smith courtesy photo
