Assumptions Enforced

Assumptions Enforced
(or not)

I work at BorderLinks leading educational trips or delegations that introduce people to the border and immigration issues.  Groups come from colleges, graduate schools, seminaries, and churches across the country.  During a delegation, participants meet with different immigration stakeholders such as immigrant-led political organizing groups, border patrol, and pastors involved in the sanctuary movement.  In addition, participants learn about topics like NAFTA, Popular Education, border history, and the prison system in interactive workshops led by BorderLinks staff.  Delegations are an intense whirlwind of complex ideas, personal stories, and strong emotions.  Days are often long, challenging, and eye-opening.  Participants leave broken-hearted, inspired, and determined to change our broken immigration system.

I got back from winter vacation ready to lead my second delegation.  I was excited, but nervous as it was the first delegation I would plan completely on my own.  Reading my participants' applications, I felt uneasy.  These students were very different from most people who I know and have grown up around.  Most were from the midwest, studying criminal justice, and hoping to go into law enforcement.  One of the male participants was planning on joining the Border Patrol after graduation.  About half the group had never been outside of the country and most had not lived in multicultural settings.  How would this group react to BorderLinks' liberal ideology?  Would they feel comfortable in this immersive cultural environment?

After meeting the group at the airport, I breathed a sign of relief.  They were great.  When I asked them to help put luggage on the roof rack they immediately organized as a team, volunteering to help.  Driving back to the office, several of the group members talked about football and hunting.  I chuckled, thinking about how different this was from my San Francisco upbringing.  When we got into the office, one of the men asked me if there was something to drink.  I responded, "There's only milk in the fridge."  His face lit up as he said, "I love milk.  I'm from Wisconsin."  I smiled and thought, this'll be fun.

As the week went on I got to know the participants better.  Over meals, we cracked jokes and talked about our personal lives.  Many of my participants work at least one job in addition to going to school full time.  One of the women goes to school, works as a waitress, and works the night shift at a gas station (10 PM - 6 AM).  She only sleeps a few hours from Sunday to Tuesday.  I was amazed by my participants' work ethic and persistence.   Many of them are first-generation college students, forging their own path.

About halfway through the week, the participants stayed with host families in Tucson.  These families are made of immigrants who are active in their community.  BorderLinks routinely organizes home stays so participants can meet people who are directly affected by immigration issues.  As I dropped off the participants, I noticed several were anxious as they had never done a home stay and they did not speak much Spanish.  I assured them that all our home stay families are friendly, welcoming, and have hosted many students before.

The next morning, I got up early to pick up students from home stay houses.  While driving, I got call from the group leader notifying me of "a situation."  The college president had found a student's Tweet (from Twitter) that said they had been "kicked out of their lodging, forced to live with illegals, and not allowed to call Homeland."  My heart sank.  Who wrote this?  Did someone actually want to call Homeland Security on these immigrant families?  Was someone going to call ICE?

Source: Google Images

Comments like this on social media can be vague, unintentional and extremely hurtful.  To me, this Tweet was a threat.  My jaw clenched as I thought about the families who had generously and bravely opened their houses to these students.  Where they now in danger?  Had I put these people in harm's way?  

Hurt and panicked, I began to doubt the trust I had put in these students.  After reconvening, I immediately sat the group down and explained the severity of inflammatory comments on social media.  Also, I described what it would look like if someone called ICE on one of these families.  Imagine flashing lights, crying children, not being able to contact your family for days, detention, an expensive bond, and a chance of being deported, separated from your home and family.  Disappointed and perplexed, I looked out at the group for reactions.  Most participants were shocked and apologetic as this Tweet did not reflect the majority's opinions or home stay experiences.  In fact, the Tweet was not written by someone in the delegation, but by their friend who did not fully understand the context.

Although I still felt violated, I breathed deeply, knowing that the Tweet should not be taken seriously.  Yet, I reflected on why this may have happened.  Many of my participants grew up in environments that have a high respect for cops and believe you should do your best to enforce the law whenever possible.  As many are going into policing, they maybe experienced an internal conflict or cognitive dissonance when living with a person had immigrated illegally.  Using this logic helped me understand my participants' perspectives, but did not shift my opinion that this Tweet was a callous, disrespectful display of entitlement and power.

Although I dutifully follow most laws myself, I try to think critically about the law.  I do not think that government-dictated rules necessarily have higher moral authority than personal or religious values.  Even though laws are powerful, foundational structures that control our lives, they can be changed quickly with a politician's signature.  In the last couple years, huge cultural concepts such as our legislative definition of marriage has changed.  Laws are a flexible, impermanent cultural constructs.

Mike Wilson, a member of the Tohono O'odham tribe in Arizona, is known for his controversial work distributing drinking water for passing migrants on the Tohono O'odham nation.  Although, this is against his tribe's laws, he continues to do it because he believes the God's law is greater than any man-made law.  If we truly loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would give them water.  If we truly loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would help them through deadly terrain.  If we truly loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would let them live in peace with their families.  

Acts 5:29: "But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'"

Despite this negative moment during my delegation, the rest of the trip went well.  The participants expressed a greater, more complex understanding of immigration policy, undocumented immigrants, and minority-police relations.  One participant wrote, "The most impactful part for me was the home stay...being able to talk one-on-one with them really opened my eyes... This will inform my decisions in my career in law enforcement for my whole life."

I thank this delegation for opening my eyes.  They taught me more about police work, the military, and what it is like to live in a different part of the United States.  I think we both shocked, challenged, and comforted one another.  Most of all, we reminded each other to meet people where they are in their life journey without making hurtful comments or assumptions.