An ‘outpouring of love and concern’

They felt compelled to help immediately — and they did so in the ways they could think of, gathering in 48 hours about 1,000 pounds of clothing, $4,500 in gift cards, 50 boxes of supplies sent through Amazon and thousands of dollars for the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. Though the group’s airplane touched down in Texas the evening of Friday, June 22, they ended their 36-hour trip unpacking some 250 to 300 boxes of supplies from all over the world in an 1,800-square-foot room at a humanitarian respite center run by Catholic Charities and serving those recently released from a nearby detention center with supplies and a hot shower.

“I’ve never seen so many toothbrushes in my life,” she said. “They’re keeping up with the outpouring of love and concern that people all over the country and the world are providing and it’s overwhelming.”

Rey said the group got the idea to visit the border upon learning U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, was traveling there the same weekend with a congressional delegation to see the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy —which called for prosecuting all people who attempt to illegally enter the country — in effect at several Texas border facilities near McAllen and Brownsville, Texas. By the time President Trump signed an executive order June 20 allowing families to be detained together, reports had shown more than 2,000 children had been separated from their parents since April under the “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

Having spoken with mothers who hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with their children for weeks, Speier was appalled by fear and confusion those they met on the trip were harboring during their detention. From accounts of some who said they were told they would be reunited with their children if they stopped seeking asylum in the United States to that of a mother who said a child she had been breast-feeding was taken from her, Speier said she and her colleagues were able to see for themselves how the policy the administration had put in place was playing out for those at the center of it.

“Everyone felt that it was really, really important to do so because you see things on a level that informs your decision-making that you just would not have without it,” she said. “These are not infestations, these are not drug smugglers, these are not MS-13 terrorists, these are mothers and children who are feeling violence in their countries.”

For U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, who was also part of the delegation, images of children lying on floors of the U.S. Border Patrol Processing Center in McAllen remained fresh in her mind days after the trip.

“In a split second, I thought ‘why is there so much aluminum foil on the floor?’ but then it started to move a little bit,” she said, noting it soon became clear the shiny material were actually heat-reflective Mylar blankets. “These children, these babies are sleeping on the cement floor — no cots, no mats. They don’t have anything else to do, they’re lying on the floor.”

She said the group traveled more than two hours from the processing center where the children were held to the Port Isabel Service Processing Center by a bus operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and found what she felt looked like a maximum security prison for those awaiting deportation or to meet with an immigration judge for an asylum hearing. Dressed in prison uniforms, some eight mothers met with the delegation, who learned they didn’t fully understand their rights and hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with or call an attorney or their families.

In speaking with border patrol agents about the legal resources detainees have available to them, the group of congressional leaders learned those held at the facility are given a list of pro bono attorneys, said Eshoo, who wasn’t convinced the mothers they spoke with — many of whom couldn’t understand English well — could do anything with the information since they didn’t have money to make calls.

“That sounds very tidy, and it sounds fair, except there isn’t any manifestation of it,” she said. “They don’t have any clear understanding of their rights.”

Noting the last two immigration bills the U.S. House of Representatives voted on were not even received well by Republicans, Eshoo didn’t hold out much hope for the passage of an immigration bill addressing the issues she and others witnessed on the trip. But she saw a great need for pro bono attorneys, Spanish-speaking interpreters and mental health professionals to make due process a reality and bring relief to families detained at the border.

Eshoo added she is also hoping to find out from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department whether any of the children separated from their parents before the president’s executive order have been transported to her district.

Following her trip to the border of California and Mexico last weekend, Pacifica resident Ellen Hage was inspired to find ways she and other county residents could support immigrants locally. Hage was among dozens of residents who urged county supervisors to create a deportation defense fund in recent weeks, an effort to which county officials’ responded in allocating some $764,000 in next year’s budget toward an immigrant defense fund this week.

Also a board member of the nonprofit Faith in Action Bay Area, Hage traveled with members of the group to the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego’s border with Mexico Saturday, June 23. Hage said Bay Area residents joined members of faith communities from across the state outside the windowless facility, which she said was surrounded by fencing and barbed wire.

Though border patrol agents stopped anyone from entering the facility, Hage said the group gathered outside the walls to pray, eventually calling out to those inside with messages of love and support. Hage said it was challenging for members of the group to hear voices coming from the other side of the wall asking where their children were, but noted many felt it was important to stand witness to the injustices and return to their communities to find ways to end these policies.

“It felt very empowering and that we are going to keep moving forward — we will not be stopped until this has ended,” she said. “There was an overwhelming sense of love and community, which was very powerful.”

Though Eshoo acknowledged the darkness of the scenes she witnessed, she was encouraged by the outpouring of support for those affected by these policies from her district. She said a Facebook fundraising campaign started by Menlo Park residents Charlotte and Dave Willner have raised more than $20 million from nearly 532,000 donors for an immigration legal services provider in Texas and a rally aimed at voicing support for immigrant families planned for Saturday, June 30, in Redwood City’s Courthouse Square are among the examples of continued support that give her hope.

“That’s where you see the goodness and the decency of the American people,” she said.

The Families Belong Together Rally will be held Saturday, June 30, from 10 a.m. to noon at Redwood City’s Courthouse Square, 2200 Broadway.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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