Immigration Nation

Some people have described the year 2020 as being the worst one of their lives and that they could hardly wait until 2021 was born! Yet 2020 has also brought blessings such as the opportunities to participate in the many Zoom gatherings which provided ways to connect, to celebrate and to learn. I particularly appreciated the six documentary files entitled “Immigration Nation”* which the Latin America/Caribbean Committee (LACC) offered on Zoom. The series was directed by Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwartz who spent 3 years (2017- 2020) filming this unprecedented access to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operations under the Trump administration. The films are not easy to watch. Yet they reveal real people in real life in this moment. That awareness of the immigrant experience and how ICE interacts with the immigrants is long-lasting. The journey the immigrants make from their home to the U.S. border itself is quite dangerous and violent. And many do not make it. And those who do are put through a series of humiliating and aggressive treatment that would make the Statue of Liberty weep! (Under the Trump administration the “Prevention Through Deterrence” Policy designed to instill fear and dehumanize the non-white population has been the law since 2017).

As I watched these films and participated in the discussions, the questions that kept coming to mind were as follows: How can this be happening? Why are we allowing people to be treated in this manner? What goes on in the minds of many of the ICE personnel that they treat the immigrants as non-humans? What can I/we do about this deplorable situation?

One of the first actions taken by LACC in early December 2020 was to send a letter to the Biden/ Harris administration petitioning them to take immediate action to reunite the more than 500 immigrant children who were separated from their families at the border. They received more than 900 endorsements. The LACC continues to educate the Loretto Community and others regarding the migrants at the border and in the detention centers throughout the United States.

The system is definitely broken and has been for a long time, so it will take time to mend this brokenness. Perhaps central to healing is the process of trans- formation that comes from within. Charles Eisenstein in a recent article in Commune about “Solving Society’s Impossible Problems,” says, “We have lost our sense of connection and we live as if we are separated… The transformation will come from within, from listening to each other’s story in order to come to an understanding of each other, to come to a sense of belonging. “And as Mary Swain stated in her homily on New Year’s Day, “How do we deal with the huge wall of violence confronting people in so many places?… I do believe that I must choose to hope.

Václav Havel taught us that “Hope, a dimension of the soul, is an ability to work for something because it is good. Not just because it stands a chance to succeed. So with Mary Swain and Havel I will not give up! I choose to HOPE.

*The six films are accessible on Netflix.