On the fourth day of our church pilgrimage to the borderlands we had dinner at a church in El Paso. We had been going all day, driving and walking and listening and learning, and we arrived back at the church ready to eat. Two women of Mexican descent who are members of that church community had made dinner for us. We were so well loved and cared for throughout the whole trip by those whom we visited. I could not help but note that, over and over again, those who are on the lowest rungs of our societal ladder were the most gracious, the most hospitable, the most kind. This would sound like some cute cliché or rosy maxim were it not so utterly and consistently true. The meal was, of course, homemade. It was delicious and perfect, and was finished with a dessert (also homemade) of arroz con leche.
As we tasted the last bites of our dessert, our pilgrimage guide Ana looked over at one of the ladies who had fed us and said, “OK, Diana: Are you ready to tell your story?” In Diana’s eyes for a moment you saw that look we all get when we’re put on the spot and know that our answer is going to be yes. The internal, “OK, here goes.” And then she looked at each of us, at our group, and that look dissolved into an honest smile that was as present and genuine as the hospitality she’d shown us already that evening.
And then Diana sat down and in perfect English and plain words told us about getting arrested at gunpoint and detained by ICE for several months.
Diana was born in the United States of Mexico, and was brought to the United States of America by her parents when she was 10 years old. Her family did not enter or settle in this country through the appropriate legal channels. Which makes them like millions of others who have helped build and shape this country. And, like the vast majority of undocumented immigrants, they settled down, settled in, worked hard, built community, joined churches, cooked meals, and committed no crimes.
Diana grew up in this country, learned English, started a family, built a life here. Back in Mexico her grandparents died, and she had no family left there – not anyone she had ever met anyway. She does not have citizenship, but she is American. You know that, right? That she is American? How on God’s green earth could she not be?
And like any other American, one day she was running late for work. She had just gotten gas, and was pulling out of the parking lot. It was a Left Turn Only exit. Diana turned right. She knew she was not supposed to but she was late to work and work was to the right. I have done this exact thing so many times. I am currently teaching one of my children how to drive and it is becoming very apparent to me how many little traffic rules I regularly break without thinking twice. I am often running late myself.
Diana did not see the police officer further back in the parking lot, but he saw her, and he saw her turn right from the Left Turn Only exit. And he pulled her over. And he took her license and he asked her if she was a citizen, and he went back to his cruiser while Diana waited there, patient and restless and hoping she would not be too late for her job. Then the ICE vehicles showed up: Unmarked SUVs out of which jumped several heavily armed and masked men. One of them ran up to the driver’s side window drew his sidearm on this unarmed middle-aged woman who had never committed a crime, pointed the handgun in her face and yelled at her to get the fuck out of her car.
I have never used that language in my blog before, but I do not apologize for it. If a priest saying the F word is the most disturbing thing about this story we have much bigger problems.
I was pulled over by police ten full times before even getting my first ticket. I drove fast, disregarded traffic laws, and got verbal warnings every time I was pulled over. The very first time I was pulled over I didn’t even have my license on me. No ticket. I have never in my life had a gun pulled on me by anyone in our government. Have you? Can you imagine this happening to you? Because of an illegal turn? Because of where your parents moved you when you were a child?
Once in custody, Diana was taken to a facility where she was stripped and body cavity searched in front of a group of both men and women who sat and watched. She was issued prisoners clothes – the color of her issued clothes, by the way – indicated that she was not a violent offender, because of course she wasn’t. She was not a criminal at all.
In her overcrowded cell, the bright overhead lights were left on 24 hours a day, the air conditioning was set to around 60 degrees. She was not given a pillow because they did not have enough for everyone detained. Several televisions were left on at blaring volumes around the clock as well. The food offerings were often undercooked to dangerous levels. Any supplementary food – like expired cookies had to be purchased at gouged prices. Any toiletries – including necessary feminine products – were also only available if purchased. Any contact with family came through video calls for which she also needed to pay.
Diana was imprisoned like this for months: A relatively brief imprisonment for someone in her situation. Fortunately, she had contacts with immigration lawyers through her church that worked tirelessly to get her out. She was pressured multiple times throughout her detention to sign voluntary deportation forms. Deportation to where, one wonders. She may be from Mexico, but Mexico is not nor has it ever really been her home. She is an American.
Though, really, even if she’d only been in this country for an hour, there is not one reason why any human should be treated the way we have treated her.
As Diana was finishing up her story, she reached down and pulled up her pantleg to reveal the ankle monitor that’s been placed on her. She is not on house arrest. She is not a flight risk. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants show up to every single immigration check in. The ankle monitor is not accountability, is it? It’s about shame and inconvenience. She has to find an hour every day to sit next to an outlet so it can be plugged in and charged without being removed. One day she forgot to charge her ankle monitor and it died without her realizing. Her phone rang. She answered. “Where are you?” someone from ICE demanded. “I’m at home,” she responded, “Why?” The person on the phone demanded she look out her window. When she did she saw multiple ICE agents in cars outside her house. They instructed her to plug in her ankle monitor, and waited until she had done so before driving off.
Diana’s imprisonment is over, but her detention and terrorization continue.
She was the second person who spoke to us that day about their detention. We heard only two stories that day, and honestly I’m telling you Diana’s story because it’s somehow more palatable than the other we heard. There are currently between 65,000 and 75,000 people in ICE detention centers right now. And thousands more that have experienced this treatment – this torture.
Through Moses, God told our ancestors multiple times to treat the stranger and immigrant as we wish to be treated, to love and to honor them. Jesus told his followers that how we treat the stranger and the outsider and the person on the margin is how we treat God. This was not coded or mysterious speak. It was direct and plain language. Our actions towards migrants in this country are godless and unholy. They are antithetical to Christ and abhorrent to the God who made us all. We are every one of us made in God’s image.
One of my fellow pilgrims pointed out something that I had been feeling but didn’t know how to articulate at first. She said that what broke her heart was how throughout Diana’s story she kept referring to herself as “illegal.” She kept saying, “I know I’m illegal, but I’m still a human.” To hear a person who has done nothing wrong speak of themselves in this manner is devastating.
Diana, you’re half right: You are in fact human. You are not illegal. Your entry into this country may itself not have been lawful, but the idea that you as a person are illegal is false. And of course you are perfectly absolutely utterly correct about your humanity. You were made in the image of God. You are loved eternally, unconditionally, magnificently. When we mistreat you, we dishonor God. You do not deserve this. There is no such thing as deserving what we have done to you. Even if you weren’t one of us. And you are: You are one of us.
