Day 1: "It is what it is"

I left snowy Seattle for cloudy and rainy San Diego on February 9th. Over this same weekend 50 Haitian refugees including one new mother and her day year old child were removed from the detention center and dropped into the streets of downtown San Diego with no money yet all knew where they could find shelter, a temporary home, Safe Harbors in the North Park neighborhood. Some I was told come with the address printed on their arms.

Haitians in San Diego? How did this happen? Why are they coming through Tijuana? In 2016 over 5,000 Haitians entered the US legally through the San Ysidro--Tijuana border crossing between Mexico and San Diego after making a 7,000 mile trek from Brazil.

Their journey began shorting after the horrific 2010 earthquake that displaced over 1.5 million people and claiming more than 200,000 lives. The story goes that Brazil had low unemployment and needed laborers to build stadiums for the Olympics so brought or enticed Haitians to go to Brazil and work as construction workers. The workers were allowed to stay and work for a few years until a new more conservative government came to power and employment rates went up. Without work they migrated from Brazil to the border where they sought to enter the US legally with "humanitarian visas" which would allow them to enter and stay with Temporary Protected Status.

The Haitian community all knew the famous Gospel musician Rev. Jean Elise Durandisse who had sought asylum for political persecution and was welcomed by Pastor Bill as part of Christ's family.  Rev. Jean now has a small but vibrant church at Christ Ministry Center where Safe Harbors is located. Thus, the Haitian community knew that they would be welcome no matter what time of day or night.

Rev. Jean Elise Durandisse

The well known but not publicized policy is that the detention centers try to release women and children because they know there is a network who will take care of them. So they dump them in the streets and trust everyone will fend for themselves or find the church doors open. Imagine, however, the magical thinking that a Border Patrol Agent must use to think that it is morally OK  to abandon a mother who just gave birth.  A few days ago I was told by a woman whose husband is a Border Patrol agent that they believe because California is a Sanctuary State that they must take care of these asylum seekers and refugees. Another said without sarcasm, "They can join the homeless in the streets" as if that was normal.

For those of you who don't know international humanitarian law, refugees and asylum seekers are supposed to be housed or released to homes where they have family until their cases come up. The back load is about 2 years. In other words the Federal Government has a responsibility to take care of these people. In this current anti-immigrant climate they know no one will go after them for breaking the law and equally important they know the churches and their network will take care of them and they do.

The emergency staff meeting began with a quick debriefing of who was doing what to care for the new guests. The second agenda item was an emergency of another kind. The Fire Marshall came and wrote a report with many violations which must be taken care of immediately or else they would close the building. The rest of the meeting was figuring out who was going to do what. Nobody wants the church to close including the Fire Marshall.

This meeting was followed by a strategy meeting with a PR group who have been contracted to help Safe Harbors bring in more funds to do the important work they are doing and pay for these structural changes so the building is safe and sustainable.

The day ended with a meeting of an Immigrant Rights Coalition to report on the work each group is doing and then to elect new members to their Board. I was impressed by the energy and dedication and by the diversity in the room which included women and young people in leadership positions.

It was a full day. I realized as I went to sleep in my own temporary shelter that I was glad I had chaplaincy training for how to operate in an emergency and that I had a lot to learn from those living and working in these borderlands. My sleepy whispered prayer was that God would find a way to use my  experience and gifts to strengthen and extend this important work.