This morning began with quick shower and packing up my small suitcase as I prepared to leave the border to head home. After a double checking the room I headed for the front desk to check out. I had several hours before my flight and thought stopping at the local IHOP for breakfast was a good way to start the morning.
This turned out to be a great decision and after paying the bill I walked another 20 minutes before reaching the airport. The airport in McAllen marks the first time I saw no line at the ticket counter or at TSA security screening.
Now I’m at the gate with another hour before my flight to Dallas, then to Cincinnati. I thought I would use this time to provide a couple final thoughts about my time at the respite center. Some might be wondering why I haven’t posted any pictures of the immigrants themselves. Besides the respite center forbidding the taking pictures of any new arrivals, I felt a part of restoring human dignity was to treat them like human beings. These immigrants are not zoo animals or some museum exhibit put on display for our enjoyment. Rather, they are flesh and blood human beings living through perhaps the most vulnerable and tenuous moments of their lives.
If there is any photographing or video recording, Sister Norma does an exceptional job at monitoring those requests. For Sister Norma is fully aware of the importance of raising awareness about the plight of the immigrants coming to the respite center. However, Sister Norma also never permits any form of media to address the immigrants without their consent, nor allow the media to pry too deeply into their affairs.
Therefore, the best way to see the immigrants is to meet them as you serve them a cup of warm soup or hand them a set of clean clothes. And when you meet them you are likely to discover what I discovered this week. First, you will not find a single terrorist, gangster, or thug. Instead, you will encounter small children with no clue as to gravity of their situation and greet middle-aged adults with little formal education unsure of where they will be able to find work.
But Chris, “ I don’t understand why these immigrants can’t pursue immigration through the proper legal channels already in existence even if it takes longer?” Well this leads me to the second discovery I made this week. These immigrants who disregard laws and procedures are not unintelligent or ignorant, nor are they reckless or disrespectful. In reality, these immigrants are simply desperate.
What do I mean by desperate? Well my co-volunteer, Mark, relayed to me a story told to him by a immigrant father he encountered this week that defines what it means to be desperate. The father had a small business back in his home country that did well enough to provide for his family. Then one day a local gang approached the father with an ultimatum. Either hand over all future profits from your store or we are going to harm your children.
Rather than waiting for visas or green cards, this father made the choice to pack up his family as quickly as he could and head for safer ground. And for whatever reason this father believes that America will be a place where he and his family will be safe. I pray that he is right.
If you still find yourself not understanding the choices immigrants make, then most likely it’s because you’ve never been desperate. And when I consider the absence of desperation in my life, I confess that I don’t understand either.
CJE