Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province
The ministry of Sister Phyllis Nolan takes her often to an Adult Detention Center for immigrants as a legal assistant/intake specialist for Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, a non-profit legal agency in El Paso, Texas, the US border city proximate to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. She has the privilege of making the initial visit to persons from many countries of our world who seek help in obtaining asylum, listening to their stories, sharing with the agency's lawyers and assisting immigrants in many ways as they go through the legal process.
Sr. Phyllis says, “My ministry has revealed to me the complexity and ineffective nature of our present immigration laws.” Here she shares some of the "Stories That Change Us".
(All names have been changed to protect privacy.)
Joe's entire family was threatened with death because of a fight one of his brothers had with a person he didn't know was a member of a very powerful gang. The price of freedom from reprisal against Joe's family was that Joe or one of his brothers would become a gang member. Joe, the youngest and unmarried, felt forced to comply for the good of his family and so participated in the gang for some time. Then promised witness protection by police forces, he testified against gang leaders. When released from the safe house where he had been kept in safety along with other witnesses, he was told to take care of himself. Soon circumstances indicated that this would not be possible and so Joe came to the Unites States with confidence that here, for sure, he would be protected. With impressive evidence and immense sincerity he presented all of this, representing himself pro se in court...Will he ever be allowed to remain here? We are awaiting the verdict. Truthfully, seeing other cases, we can't be sure. He has temporarily been a member of a "terrorist" group, the gang he felt forced to join in order to protect his family. By our present law, one can be considered to be a terrorist for even forced or material "support" of a terrorist group. Last week the Judge decided to weight the matter further and mail his decision to this anxious gentleman. "The system" tells us only "your case is currently pending".
“A young woman named Sue fled her country in great fear and, along with other people well known by her, asked for asylum at the border, entering with respect for our laws. She was then detained in the city of El Paso, and the people she was with were detained in another part of the country. She doesn’t know where they are. Because she has relatives in a nearby state, Sue asked for parole or bond but she is ineligible for either of them. When a person comes to the border here and asks for protection, it is assumed that he or she has nowhere to go in the states. Had she “snuck in” and begun to find her way through the desert to the home of those relatives, Sue would be eligible for bond or parole. It goes against common sense – but such is the state of our present immigration laws.”
“A young man named Bill resisted recruitment into a gang and was punished for that by the brutal murder of his sister. Several of the offenders were members of government forces. Bill continued to resist, then escaped his country. After detailed and well documented evidence of his experiences, he has been denied asylum by an Immigration Judge. Why? The law requires that the persecution a person suffers be initiated by the government of his/her country or that it be from forces they cannot or will not control. Since no one involved acted “in the name” of the government which claims to try to control drug dealers, Bill’s persecution does not meet the requirements for asylum. He is receiving the help of a lawyer as he appeals this decision, but Bill may well be sent back to his death.”
“The Smith family fled their country after the involvement and consequent murder of their father, who became involved in drug trafficking and somehow did not measure up to the expectations of leaders. No one else in the family made his mistakes, but all have been told they will pay for it. Already and uncle and cousin have been sought out and killed. The first victim’s wife and four children came to the border together to ask for asylum. The mother and smaller children have been housed in a distant state and are appealing their case, a process that usually takes many months, if not years. Her teenage sons, detained here already nine months, couldn’t imagine wasting more time in this way and preferred to accept a deportation order. With no where else to go, they are back in their family home and truly in danger again. We have begun to search for the help we need to relocate them in order to preserve their lives. Temporary Protective Status can be offered to some such persons who do not qualify for asylum, but they must be citizens of certain specified countries. Sad to say, the native land of these young men is not among them.”