When I lived in Denver a few years ago, I taught a student who came to this country because if she and her family had stayed in their home country, they faced a credible threat from the Zetas. Her older brother had already been murdered by gang members. The way the cartels operate, the entire family was now a target for harassment, extortion, and kidnapping.
In an alternate reality, my former student could've ended up coerced into a life that is the nightmare for any parents of a teenage daughter.
Faced with an impossible choice, they uprooted their lives and sought asylum at the U.S. border.
When people face a strong likelihood of persecution if they return to their homes, especially in certain places where their governments don't have the ability to protect them, American law permits them legal entry as refugees.
When people face a strong likelihood of persecution if they return to their homes, especially in certain places where their governments don't have the ability to protect them, American law permits them legal entry as refugees.
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I try to imagine suddenly needing to leave Nashville with my family, giving up my home for no money, and moving to a place where we didn’t speak the language. I imagine giving up my way of earning a living because that likely won’t travel to the new place, either. I imagine doing this while grieving the loss of my son. The scale of it all is unfathomable.
Yet that is what my student’s family -- and tens of thousands like them -- did.
These families are who we, through our Border Patrol authorized by the government we elected, are arresting and separating at the border.
These families, likely already traumatized, are being ripped apart by public servants acting in our name.
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Immigration, including and especially taking in refugees, makes our country better off. (Read the studies, if you'd like.) Contra Jeff Sessions and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Bible, and Jesus in particular, is quite clear about what should be done for impoverished, desperate strangers fleeing persecution.
We empathize best through stories though, and this one has a happy ending. My former student is now in college, training to be a teacher. Her other brother is in high school. Her parents rebuilt their lives, working incredible hours at tough jobs. Their children are thriving because of their sacrifice.
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The potential we each have within us is a delicate thing. Single, cruel acts can reverberate across families and generations. Rebuilding one’s promise after such cruelty takes enormous effort. For every story that ends like my former student’s, dozens more have a tragic conclusion.
When our country opens its doors to those in need, we all benefit.
The opposite is also true.
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