Ignorance Is Bliss

 Ignorance Is Bliss

by Sawyer & Alex

We woke up with a lot to learn today. We had a jam packed day ahead of us. Talks about the unseen events that happened during early immigration would continue to happen today. We had a talk on immigration history, a talk from a former Border Patrol guard, and a presentation from Jesuit Refugee services. They all taught us a different part about immigration history and answered the many questions that came up.

The day opened up with a presentation from David Dorado Romo. This was a deep cut presentation that talked about the avoided history topics in the U.S. school system. The talk opened with Mr. Romo helped us realize how the school influenced us before, like how the school system promised Columbus, when in reality, he should’ve been condemned for his heinous actions towards the indigenous people of the “Americas”. This was really shocking to us because we did not know the school system was like that. He asked us to really think about ways school had not shown the full story. One of the LaSallian students, Kat, said that she remembers that her teacher would skip over sections of the history book they had to paint America in a good light. Once he helped us realize that the system had influenced our thinking, Romo delved into some deep topics that are extremely hidden to the normal U.S. citizen. This included disinfection centers on the border in 1916. These stations forced people crossing the border from Mexico to undress and be inspected, while also getting sprayed with pesticides for the sake of decontamination of lice. These humans were humiliated and poisoned at the hands of the U.S. government, and yet, the institutionalized system allowed for no blame to be put on anyone since this happened. Throughout this presentation, Romo also drew connections from the U.S.’s immigration laws based on race, to Nazi Germany, and Hitler’s ideals. This really shocked us into realizing how much the government was able to get away with. Almost the entire U.S. population, including esteemed professors from Ivy League schools, had no idea that this had happened at our southern border. Lastly, the presentation concluded with a discussion of how much the current immigrant population of El Paso and surrounding areas have suffered from the system’s dehumanization and separation of families, which had the potential to sever family ties forever. 

The second talk was from Michael DeBruhl. He worked for Border Patrol for over two decades. He talked about how the original border patrol did not have much funding, control, and resources. The official Border Patrol that we know today was created in 1924. He also talked about how the walls were created. Originally Border Patrol was against the use of walls. Over time they have been useful to control those who are coming through the border. Another point he made was that most drugs are seized at points of entry. 94% of Methamphetamine is seized at the border. He also pointed out that most of the drugs that cross the border are from U.S. citizens. We were all shocked at these facts because often the narrative is that immigrants smuggle drugs over. He added that Immigrants do not commit violent crimes, in fact U.S. citizens are more likely to commit violent crimes. Once again this showed us that what is said in politics is not always true to what is actually happening. These facts make sense because immigrants move for safety and opportunity not destruction. Michael then shifted the conversation to the present day action under the Trump administration. The new executive orders have expanded removal to all over the country rather than near the border. Michael mentioned that there are not enough resources right now to serve all of the 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. He introduced us to the remain in Mexico act. This act just passes immigrants on to Mexico rather than helping immigrants. He emphasized that a lot of changes have happened recently due to the Trump Administration. He ended with making sure we understood that being pro border security or pro immigration are not opposite. These two sides need to work together for a successful border.

The third meeting was a group meeting, where Jovana Nieto, a woman who works with JRS, the Jesuit Refugee Services, answered a lot of the questions we had from the day. Our brains were a little overloaded from all the information we had taken in from the day, so it was nice to decompress a little and ask the questions we had in our heads. We discussed specifics of refugee services, while also discussing as a group what we could do to make an impact once we returned to the La Salle campus. Lots of good ideas were floating around, but we all knew that some processing of this whole trip would be necessary before we could make any final decisions. 

Personally, today was seemingly a heavy day for the whole group. We discussed a lot of topics that were pretty discouraging to not only the group, but the nation as a whole. Some of the answers to the questions that we were asking were “I don’t know” or “It might not change” which was a hard, but very important thing to hear for our group. 

Overall, the day had a big emphasis on how much we rely on ignorance to try and make ourselves feel at peace. The ignorance we have as a nation leaves us disconnected from our past, when in reality, we need to push for widespread knowledge of these topics so that the overall population can start to understand the past of the border, so that we might be able to change it in the future. 

We ended our day with a reflection. We talked about the positives that we are seeing and what we feel called to do. Because today‘s talks contained heavy topics, Ms. Babinec led us through two relaxing exercises to help calm our minds and help us not get overwhelmed. We got some gelato and went for a scenic drive through the El Paso mountains. On the drive we saw the star that overlooks the city. This day was very full and difficult to process, so we will continue to think about these talks over the coming days.