The Jefferson City Human Relations Commission hosted a briefing for the community Monday night on family separation policies at the U.S.-Mexican border.
Pedro Guerrero gave the briefing at Capitol City Cinema. He's the Jefferson City-based legislative aide for state Rep. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, and he also recently spent a week at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, to help a St. Louis-based attorney provide legal services to women and children seeking asylum after having been detained at the border. Guerrero said he served as an interpreter.
The stories of how the United States and its immigration policies came to a point this summer when thousands of children were being separated from their parents at the southern border and held at different detention centers - to great public outcry and denunciation before a federal judge ordered the government to reunite all the families by July 26 - are long and complicated. They span multiple countries; decades' worth of legislation, court rulings and agency re-organizations; and the decisions of more than only the current or immediately prior U.S. presidential administrations.
Some things are straightforward, though - one thing being that mothers are resilient. Guerrero explicitly emphasized that point.
His own family sought asylum in the U.S. when he was an infant. "It was kind of a crazy full circle experience serving these mothers and children, and seeing them relive the trauma that my parents went through, and still go through today," he said of his work in Texas about two weeks ago.
He explained for about 20 people present Monday that the legal precedents that determine who may or may not be eligible for asylum, and what it takes for the women and children at the residential center in Dilley to try to get it.
He also shared the stories of some of the clients he worked with. The accounts of people from Central American countries including Nicaragua and Honduras who fled violence from paramilitary groups, gangs, drug cartels and abuse by spouses, dehumanizing stories those people had to repeat in the interview process to prepare for asylum proceedings, and that he had to listen to, but he said was not allowed to offer empathy for beyond a pat on the back.
"There are human beings behind these headlines," human relations commissioner Kennette Goodman said after Guerrero's presentation of what she hoped local people took away from it.
South Texas detention facilities, U.S. immigration policies and atrocities faced by impoverished people in Central America may seem to be distant, intangible issues, concepts and experiences for people in Mid-Missouri, but Guerrero said there are ways for local people to get involved.
"Make the struggle more tangible," he said after the event, adding that "you don't have to go far away."
Along with donating money to organizations that offer legal services - such as the CARA Pro Bono Project he worked with - or sponsoring attorneys and translators to go, he mentioned local volunteer opportunities with Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri's office for refugee and immigration services, and the nonprofit City of Refuge non-profit organization in Columbia.
He also challenged the Jefferson City community, though, to make such opportunities even more local.
"I will note that these services are few and far between here in Jefferson City, and that is a problem, and I think it just goes to show the need for more diversification here in this community," he said.
Jefferson City's human relations commission held its first meeting in more than seven years in January, with the goal of the resurrected commission being to educate residents by hosting programs, forums and meetings that "aid in eliminating and preventing prejudice, discrimination, intolerance and bigotry" based on race, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability, according to city code.
Goodman said people who would like to offer suggestions for future events can contact the commission at [email protected]. She added that the commission is working on getting its social media presence up and running, and they hope to host more film screenings and small group conversations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.