This Ramadan, my husband and I made an intention to become First Friends volunteers. First Friends organizes volunteer visits to immigration detainees held in jails across our NY/NJ area. Our first step was to be trained in visitation by First Friends staff at their office, which we did as a group. It also gave us an appreciation of how a small group of dedicated staff running on a shoestring budget are managing to do so much good for those in need, if not on a material level but at least on an emotional and spiritual level.
My first visit last week was with a 19 year old girl from South America, who was picked up at a deli. Her father left her mother before she was born, and her mother escaped the country because of gangs and violence. She was wearing a dark color jumpsuit like all the other inmates, although there was only one other visitor the day I was there. The other visitor was another young girl visiting her mother, who was a green card holder, but was re-arrested because of minor violations she had committed before she got the green card twenty plus years ago. This young girl was so upset at the new law, and how it had created suffering and sadness in her family. Her mother had served her time long ago, and become a good citizen, and it did not make human sense at all.
My assigned detainee told me that she feels sadness all day and all night, as none of her family can visit her. I asked her about her daily schedule, which seemed to be quite boring and uneventful. There are TV’s and books in common areas, but her eyes seemed empty and disengaged as she told me about her days. She had only been there for a month, and was hoping her mother could find a lawyer soon. Her only request to me was to pray for her release, and to read from the Bible to her. However, as a visitor, I cannot even take anything except my locker key in to the visitation booth, where we speak through a phone across a glass plate. So I asked First Friends to get her some Bible passages in Spanish, which they will.
My husband met with an African immigrant detainee, who had also been a green card holder, and had been held for much longer- almost 3 years! And getting lawyers and health treatment had been almost impossible for him. He had also been injured while in custody. This made me realize that these laws predated the Trump presidency, although the roundups seem to be happening with a gleeful vengeance these days. How does human hate get stored up for so long, stoking like a volcano and released so suddenly, I wondered? And how do those motivated by profit go so far as to pass draconian laws just to make more money without a care or concern for those impacted? I thanked God that I had some opportunity to see (not even touch) those in suffering, and maybe add a small bright spot in their day. I also prayed that those of us who feel for others and care to act, increase our actions and turn the tide of profit stoking hate into a tide of love and compassion, Amen.
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