By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
One came because she herself is an immigrant from Mexico. Another because she has spent her life helping refugees in other countries. And another because he is so disturbed by the images of children being held at U.S. border camps.
Together, they joined about 50 people Tuesday who held signs outside U.S. Rep. Bob Latta’s office in Bowling Green. With a united voice, they demanded changes to the U.S. policy of separating families and housing humans in overcrowded, unsanitary detention facilities.
But the person they wanted to speak with – Latta – wasn’t there. Fewer than half of citizens were allowed in Latta’s office to speak with his aide, and no journalists were permitted in during their discussion.
“Of course, Rep. Latta was not in the office,” said Beatriz Maya, head of LaConexion of Wood County, which organized the vigil. “We have been asking for a meeting for over a year.”
So instead, the local citizens left a letter and fact sheet for the congressman.
“We will stand witness to the suffering and deaths of courageous migrants,” Maya said. “We will be the voice for those who now suffer.”
For Jessica Flores, the border policies are personal.
“I am an immigrant who came here when I was 1 year old,” said Flores, of Weston. Her parents brought her from Mexico in hopes of giving her a better life.
“I worry every day,” said Flores, who is married to a U.S. citizen but is not yet a citizen herself. She is covered under the DACA program, but that is less than secure. “I’m still worried.”
On Tuesday, Flores brought her 8-year-old daughter, Victoria Hernandez to the vigil along North Main Street, outside Latta’s office. The images of children the same age in the detention facilities haunt Flores.
“I don’t think it’s humane for children to be locked up without their parents,” she said. “I feel upset for the kids.”
For Tracey Buckenmeyer, retired after years with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the vigil was a familiar fight in an unusual place. She spent 30 years working for refugees’ rights in Turkey, Ethiopia, Kosova, Sri Lanka and Ukraine.
“It’s familiar because I’ve seen it in other countries,” said Buckenmeyer, who now lives in Swanton. But she never expected to have to fight for those rights here in the U.S.
“Now I’m home doing this in my own country – which is kind of shocking to me that I have to,” she said.
Buckenmeyer fears that many U.S. citizens are numb to the conditions at the border detention facilities. And some have swallowed the propaganda that many of the people seeking entry are criminals.
“They forget that they’re people,” she said. “It’s too far away. We lose the humanity of it.”
Others were motivated to join the LaConexion vigil for the first time outside Latta’s office.
“I care about how children are treated at the border,” said Marc Simon, of Bowling Green. “Something should be done to fix the problems. Our country has the resources.”
Joanna Navin, also of Bowling Green, echoed those worries.
“I’m concerned about the children. I’m concerned about the way our country is treating them,” Navin said. “It’s not who we are as Americans.”
Some picked up signs because they know the people seeking shelter in the U.S. are desperate or they would not risk the journey or the detention.
“I’m here because I’ve heard stories of how horrific it is for people trying to escape the countries they live in,” Debbie Dalke, of Bowling Green, said.
“I understand we can’t have open borders,” she said. But these families need jobs and ways to feed their children, she added.
Katie McKibben just returned earlier this year from a work brigade trip to Honduras through Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Pemberville. She agreed that the problems in Central American countries need to be solved, so people did not have to seek refuge in other lands..
“They are leaving for reasons we haven’t taken time to understand,” McKibben said.
As part of the vigil, Flores read aloud the names of the migrants who have died in U.S. custody at the border.
Others read from letters written by children in the detention centers.
The letters told of a boy, 5, who is sick and separated from his father; of a girl, 16, held in a metal cage with only a Mylar blanket for warmth and lights on all the time; of a boy, 8, taken from his grandparents, who now sleeps on a concrete bench since the mats on the floor are taken by the big kids; and of a girl, 17, whose baby soiled his clothes, and she has no place to wash them.
“We stand together in witness for all this great country has stood for in the past,” said Amanda Schackow, of LaConexion.
Always a land of immigrants, she read aloud the words made famous on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
After the last visit by LaConexion members to Latta’s office this spring, the congressman did make scheduled visits to some detention centers. He wrote that he found the facilities to be “effective and humane.”
Since then, Latta, a Republican, has also voted against the version of House Resolution 3401, which would have instituted firm standards for caring for children in detention facilities. He voted for funding – but no changes in policy.
“The problem is the policy,” said Linda Lander, of LaConexion. “It’s intentionally meant to be cruel and inhumane.”
