Of the 17 SCSJ fall break service trip groups, two were sent to the New Mexico/ Texas border city of Anthony.
The groups included ten Creighton students who left Omaha on Friday, the sixth before their fall break began. They traveled for two days, stopping in Colorado Springs, CO, to stay the night at the Covenant of the Sisters of St. Francis. There, they met with some sisters who were Creighton alums and rested up for the second part of their travel.
The students in this group worked with the Women’s Intercultural Center to gain a professional perspective on the climate around the border and experience a very raw look at the state of the U.S. immigration system.
The Women’s Intercultural Center facility was built by women, and within the walls of the structure are encapsulated notes from those women about their dreams for women in the future.
The group also had the opportunity to speak with a magistrate judge, the mayor of Sunland Park, and a public defender, along with several others who have dedicated substantial efforts to mitigating the perils and complications of the immigration process.
One of the days was particularly memorable, according to both Ava Verzani and Avery Steer, two of the students who took part in the Anthony New Mexico service trip.
The group was given a tour of the El Paso ICE Detention Center. They covered how people were detained and what their living facilities looked like.
The center held aspiring immigrants crossing through legal checkpoints.
“They hadn’t committed any crimes, but the average stay in the ICE Detention Center is 54 days,” Verzani said. “I was really struck by how prison-like the facility felt. These people are just waiting for their immigration cases to get through.”
Steer echoed Verzani’s sentiment, saying, “It was really hard on the heart; all of our group kind of went silent.”
She continued by stressing that even though the situation was difficult to see, it was extremely important to bear witness and understand the importance of what was going on. “If we want to advocate and educate people around us, we’re supposed to see it, “Steer said.
The group became generally better educated on the barriers and loopholes at play for obtaining anything from citizenship to a work visa.
“I think speaking with Amanda Skinner was really impactful for me,” Steer said. “Her passion was really encouraging given how sad and difficult many of her cases are.”
Amanda Skinner is a federal public defender of the area where the group had the opportunity to meet. “She educated us on the fact that there are many different solutions that need to happen to fix our system,” Steer said.
“This experience shattered my thoughts on how difficult and nitpicky it can be when granting asylum or a visa in the United States,” Verzani said.
When visiting a portion of the border wall, the group was approached from the other side of the wall by a family with young children.
“It was really eye-opening and heartbreaking to be having a conversation with a 10-year-old kid from through the border wall.
On the return trip home, the group wrote letters to their senators on what they’d learned and the hope they had for future immigration reform.