2019 Volunteer Trip to the El Paso-Juarez Border

Friends and Family: I have heard more interest than I expected to regarding the trip I just took to the border in El Paso — so it seemed worthwhile to try to get some thoughts down — it’s probably a good thing to do anyway. You’re getting this because (I think?) you asked in some way. I really did try to make this as short as possible (but happy to chat more anytime), I timed it at 6 minutes reading.

This writing comes out of 15 days in a sprawling warehouse that currently receives between 40 and 140 people a day. Families with kids only — predominantly Brazilians and Mexicans — who were released from detention by ICE, Border Patrol, CBP or some combination. These daily numbers have ranged wildly between four digits and single digits in the past year, but the "Migrant Protection Protocols" have achieved some brutal effectiveness that has kept this <100/day range and nationality mix constant over the last couple months.

The facility was in as undisclosed a location as possible. The threat of gang retaliations plus the anti-immigrant-motivated mass shooting just up the road in August rightfully spooked the organization into no-photos/no-disclosures policies — or I could have shared more. For example, the faces of the inspiring and amazing local and other volunteers, and some really stunning community art in the facility that brought some focus away from the seas of Red Cross cots — some pics might have saved some of these thousand words.

At the warehouse’s office, we would receive 0-15 minutes warning before a van or bus would show up, after which point our entire contribution was to:

1. Get our guests to understand that they were no longer prisoners (even despite the tracking ankle bracelets often attached)

2. Ensure we identified who needed medical assistance, who was separated from still-detained family members, and who may have suffered other depredations to try to get them at least the first step toward remediation.

3. Provide cleaning supplies, showers, food, a bed and a change of clothes.

4. Communicate with their sponsors to get them on their way to their US destination.

5. Get them safely to the bus station or airport and secure their tickets from their sponsor.

It is surely in everyone’s interest for our government to perform these 5 basic functions for asylum seekers once we’ve admitted them for a hearing. But non-profits have to do it — most likely because cruelty is the point.

Every volunteer and staff member had their ways of handling this environment; mine was mostly to stay task-oriented and ensure I had a backlog of facilities- or process- improvement projects to work on during lulls in the action. In turn, this parade of confused humanity tried with varying degrees of success to preserve their own wits, dignity or whatever resource was most dear to them at the time. But a little heartbreaking moment would creep through just about every day. Something precious seized or stolen, someone missing, hurt or dead, someone’s last dollar spent, someone’s sponsor disappeared. There were also happy moments of people speaking to their relatives for the first time in a long time, unexpected humor, kids having fun in the playroom, etc. but at least in my experience, these were sadly outnumbered.

Overall, I would estimate about 1/3rd of those I personally did ‘intake’ documentation for escaped with just a few days in this ordeal thanks to proper functioning of the bureaucracy involved. Another 1/3rd were victims of incompetence, errors of omission or common misunderstanding that resulted in some major loss — these were rarely recoverable. The final 1/3rd had suffered active malice at the hands of criminal predators or perhaps worse, trusted officials who simply decided they could do something other than what was supposed to be their job. Of the latter, the most common evils were disappeared property and apparently-intentional court-date mishandling.

On my last night there, I was asked by one of the other volunteers what my single biggest takeaway was. After instantly realizing that I probably was a long way from extracting any real insight from the hall of mirrors I had just spent 2+ weeks inside, a first draft just popped into my mouth: It was how completely and constantly all these harmless and industrious people — and their families — are screwed at every turn. The criminals, government and mostly-broken community they fled, as well as the criminals, government and mostly-broken community at and beyond the border who profit by their flight all get turns — and will continue to get turns for months or years to come. Just a little mercy or counterforce is what we as American citizens and fellow human beings can hope to apply when we can recognize an opportunity to do so.

What can you do? Donate money not things (they really do take extra bandwidth to deal with even if its what's needed) if you cannot offer time. The organization I worked with was Annunciation House -- despite an old post you'll see on their site, are now accepting short-term volunteers and I'd be pleased to refer you. But there are many other worthy organizations that may resonate, including the ACLU and RAICES. Or maybe just do what you can above market rate when interacting with someone who may be somehow caught in this sorry situation (a hotel housekeeper, delivery person, anyone really).

If you do have time -- and even better, could advocate legally or professionally for asylum seekers -- by all means spending some hours on that (or in the case of Annunciation House, 2 weeks minimum) is worthwhile. I can say that being a productive part of the Sisyphean flow of support services does bring real help to individuals, and is its own reward. But working for change at the system level is the only real way to abate this onslaught of human suffering — because this administration is not done inflicting cruelty and barriers to asylum yet.  Which is why I suggest advocacy and/or dollars first. At the same time, the percentage of us who have any means to do anything at all is so, so small (the retired, the just-graduated, and those with any savings at all), that your help whatever you can spare will not see diminishing returns, and every bit will make a difference somewhere to someone.

Thanks for reading -- I hope you found the time worthwhile.

Same Stuff Different Day

In the great tradition of looking backward in order to look forward for the New Year, I dug up and updated a blog post about good product management to see how far we've come and what's next.