Wednesday, October15, 2014

I’ve been eager to work with refugees face to face.  Today we went to the Sacred Heart Relief Center in McAllen.This is an ecumenical, non-government funded effort to assist refugees in the transition from ICE to the bus station and travel to their family sponsor in the U.S.  It is an attempt to give them back a bit of human dignity.

I use the term refugee intentionally. In Honduras and Guatemala, gangs go to rural areas, where there are no sheriffs or police as we know it.  One story we heard was of a husband murdered, then 3 brothers kidnapped.  A 12-year old boy was beaten to death in front of his 12 year old and 18 year old brother.  His body was x-rayed and the film sent to his mother.  The message?  Pay us or we will do this to the other two toys.  And so mothers leave with their children or send their children with hope of asylum.

Often this type of immigrants will turn themselves into ICE voluntarily. A young, pregnant woman with a 3 year old son was such a case I saw at the Relief Center. When they are detained by ICE, they are held for a required 72 hours. During this time they receive virtually nothing. Some food. Often they are kept in very cold rooms with no blankets. This is called the ICE box. 

ICE questions the refugee to determine if she is eligible for potential asylum. If no, she is deported. To be eligible for asylum, she must have a contact in the U.S. that is willing to house her and wire money to the bus depot for a ticket to the sponsor’s location.  If she meets this requirement, she is taken to the bus station where she is basically just dumped. No one takes her into the station or orients her to where the counter is to claim her ticket.  

McAllen Central Bus Station

Wendy Manuel