Our government has determined the solution is to treat refugees as criminals by using mass incarceration and procedures otherwise reserved for violent offenders. In the past few days it has been reported in national news outlets that Border Patrol agents are resigning at 4 times the rate with which new officers are able to be hired. This was not the job they signed up for and duties have changed dramatically from the way these positions looked in the past. The facilities used for immigrant detention are truly bursting (note the El Paso facility built to hold 125 individuals currently packing in over 800 with people physically on top of one another). The non-profit organizations stepping up to provide assistance once these families are finally released into the community are also being stretched in unfathomable ways, somehow finding meager means to keep providing as these already low resourced communities have been maxing out their charity for years while no one else was really paying attention.
Flash forward to their next stop. Migrant families have been traveling with me on flights out of the Rio Grande Valley to Houston and I'm almost ashamed by what they will encounter there. As I myself (native-born-U.S.-citizen-super-privileged-white-lady) feel overwhelmed by IAH, I cringe to think what it must feel like for them. The place is nothing short of abundance on display. Pure excess of absolutely everything. Even the damn airport has multiple stores exclusively selling high end undergarments. As these families have nothing but the clothes on their back, a small plastic grocery bag with a few non-perishable low-nutritional-value snacks, and large envelopes with notes printed on the outside saying "I don't speak English. Can you please help me find my way?" along with their travel confirmation info.
How in the world can we as a nation say that we are not able to accommodate these families? Even if the numbers of immigrants we are to accept reaches the millions, how can we possibly say that we don't have enough? Because our selfishness and greed won't allow it? Because what it means to be a citizen of the United States is to be wasteful and always take more than we actually need or could ever realistically make use of?
I watch these parents who have traveled so far, through so much uncertainty, clinging to their children, knowing that this was all for them. Not knowing what tomorrow will hold or how the next set of challenges will be overcome. No doubt already considering that they don't even know where the next meal might come from.
I return home after each trip feeling further ashamed. And ever more desperate to change this situation. To press the true extent of my individual privilege to convince those who have the power and might be influenced that this shit has to stop. I have no idea what our collective bill for shitty detention centers is running these days, but 4 years ago it was $300 per person per day at the Dilley Detention Center in Central Texas. For that amount, these same families could be put up in a suite at an upscale hotel in pick-your-metropolis. Rather than rotting their potential away in overcrowded cells / cages / tents, let us recognize the resource that these families are. These are the scrappers - the people who have proven they can survive and thrive in anything. Let's see what beautiful things they will contribute to our society if we could only be brave enough to think beyond ourselves long enough to give them a chance.
