People Are Leaving - convictions of an American living in a country so many are fleeing
Note: I am fully aware that I am NOT an expert by any means on the lives/journeys of migrants or on the legalities of immigration and I have no intent of this being read as a political argument. I am simply writing as someone from a country that many migrants go to who is currently living in a country that many migrants leave.
I'm sure you've heard about the caravans. I'm sure you can't flip through the channels on TV without hearing something about immigration. I'm sure you've scrolled through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and seen celebrities, politicians, your own family and friends, making statements or participating in arguments about these issues. And I'm sure you also have some sort of opinion on the matter.
Regardless of what you've heard, what you think, or how you feel about immigration, border control, etc., I'm asking you to take a minute to listen. I'm not going to ask you to sign a petition, or try to get you to change your opinion, or tell you that you're wrong. I just want to share with you what I've experienced the past few months, simply as an observer (not as an activist or anyone with a political motive).
People are leaving... Adults, teens, children, and babies are leaving. Almost every day. It's becoming an epidemic, really. Each time I hear that someone from the communities we serve in is leaving or has left for the states, my heart hurts. But this time, it hurts differently. This time, a child I felt connected to, a girl I really loved, left. This time, it was someone who was in our after-school program, someone who lit up when she saw me (and I when I saw her), someone who I never thought would leave. This time it stirred something in me that led to a lot of thought and searching.
Why do they go? And why would my sweet friend Stephanie* go?
Some go to look for a better life. To work and send money back home, to build a life of their own, or even for health or educational reasons.
Some go to escape bad situations. To leave abusive homes, to avoid violence with gangs, to try to get out of poverty.
Some go because they see no other option. They only see devastation, lack of hope, lack of a future.
Some go because they are forced. Parents send kids, moms take young babies, dads in the states send word for their kids to come.
I've learned that most who go illegally, go that way because they can't afford to try to go legally. It's a long, expensive process. So when they feel no hope here and see no way to go the "right" way, they believe they are left with only one option: go illegally. Which usually means going with a caravan or a coyote (smuggler), riding on top of a dangerous train called "The Beast," hiding out in risky places, walking through deserts, and swimming through rivers.
Can you imagine going through all of that to get somewhere and never even making it there? There are kids who are killed the day after they're sent with a smuggler. Girls and boys who are sexually abused and trafficked along the way. People who drown in the rivers or die of dehydration in the deserts. Babies who catch diseases in overcrowded migrant safe-houses. People who fall off The Beast and get caught in the wheels. Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of this reality. Most people I see without a limb or two are part of the "lucky ones" who survived a fall off that train and made it back home.
I think we can all agree that "the system" needs work. I'm not here to tell you what work I think it needs. I don't think one person has the perfect answer to these issues, anyways. But I know Someone who has perfect answers to my questions. So, after learning what I've learned, seeing what I've seen, feeling what I've felt, and crying out in prayer, I'm left with convictions that I want to share. These are faith and scripture-based, experience-backed, prayerfully thought out things I believe we can be doing regardless of our political beliefs and views on immigration and border policy.
Give hope. Help people understand there is hope for them where they are. Whether it's through conversations, helping meet needs, providing opportunities for employment or education, etc., we can help people find reasons to hope. Ultimately, we can point people to Christ, because that a relationship with Him is the only thing that can provide people with true hope. My heart yearns for people to see hope for their lives exactly where God placed them, because He is there and He is hope.
Show grace. Whether they immigrated legally or not, the journey to the states was likely not an easy one. Leaving the only place you've ever known to go to a foreign place is scary. Separating from your family is traumatic. Odds are, if they immigrated illegally, they are probably terrified. Their journey was likely incredibly dangerous. They may have been violated in some way. Now they're trying to process that while figuring out life in a new land where they could get into trouble at any moment. They're probably experiencing culture shock, having a hard time with communicating, and feeling lonely. Go out of your way to show them grace. You don't have to condone their choices to show grace. We know God doesn't condone our sins yet he showers us with His grace and mercy daily. No matter how they got here, they are humans who have value. You can disagree without demonizing.
Be real. When was the last time you were totally honest about your life to others? We have a tendency to display and talk about only the best moments of our lives. Our social media pages are full of picture-perfect moments (and lets be real, even the non-picture-perfect moments are usually planned to include a perfect caption to create the illusion of honesty without it really being true). Imagine if all you knew about life in another country was from the social media highlights of people who lived there, glamorous movies and TV shows filmed there, and hope-filled stories of people who made it there? (Side note: it is rare for people who go to the states to be honest about how life is for them there. They don't call home and say how hard it is, because that would bring shame, so whether life is great or not, they're going to tell people that it is to save face.) We need to be authentic with our lives. People need to know that just because we are from/live in the US, our lives are not perfect.
So why did Stephanie go? That question may haunt me for years to come. I may never know the reason. But there are some things I do know: even if I personally don't condone illegal immigration, I can love Stephanie and people like her by giving hope, showing grace, and being real. And I can continue to support effective ministries, by working alongside them personally or giving towards them from afar, that help meet people's needs where they are. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Because ultimately people leaving isn't the problem. People feeling like they have no hope is.
*Stephanie: named changed to protect identity of a minor.
