Today was full of unique opportunities and experiences for our group studying in the Rio Grande Valley. We worked at La Posada for about half of the day today, splitting up into two groups one half of us continued to mix cement and pour it into holes that were dug previously the day before. The other half of our group worked on a bunch of different projects. We cleared space for the back end of our fence to go through, built a shelving unit, and helped pack up extra pants, shorts, and blankets that La Posada did not need to be sent across the border into Mexico to the refugee camps for people looking to seek asylum in the United States. We finished everything up around 11 a.m. and made sure we were back in time to shower and clean up for our guest speaker today: Jennifer Harbury.
Jennifer K. Harbury is an American lawyer, author, and human rights activist. Her primary area of work with the Tias is at one of the migrant shelters in Reynosa.
Jennifer Harbury is a member of the “Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley”. Jennifer is an American author, lawyer, and human rights activist that works with asylum seekers coming to the United States fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. She began the Angry Tias group after seeing a need for basic human supplies for people on the bridge waiting to enter the U.S. and in the refugee camps in Mexico. Angry Tias is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that collects funds to “feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned and comfort the grieving people stranded by U.S immigration policy at the U.S southern border”. Their mission, as it states on their website is to “provide basic necessities for health and safety and support for human dignity and justice to individuals and families seeking asylum at our borders and as they embark on their journeys to designated destinations in the U.S..”
We had the honor of having Jennifer come and talk to our class today for about two hours after our work at La Posada this morning and her message had many of us in tears by the end. Jennifer stated that the crisis happening on the United States and Mexico border is a “humanitarian horror show”. She recounted story after story of reasons why people are looking to seek a better life in the United States and why they cannot return to their countries. Yet, the system at the border is not set up to accept citizens based on their reason for fleeing. The U.S. accepts immigrants on a seemingly random basis after deeming them not a significant security risk for our country. If these immigrants are accepted, they may go to a shelter similar to La Posada to seek refuge until they can make contact with family and friends living in the U.S.
Many of Jennifer’s words were uncomfortable and challenged a lot of our preconceived ideas of what was happening at the border and the reasons people are fleeing their home countries. Her information was heavy and hard to grapple with. I felt a mix of emotions after her lecture but mostly of anger, sadness, and a crippling shock that left me feeling so helpless in the midst of all of the tragedy occurring a mere 15 miles from where we are staying. It felt frustrating knowing we couldn’t do a whole lot to help the situation with only two weeks left in our time down here but the impact this experience had on everyone in the class will go with us forever. And that, in the end, is our role in being down here. We are not here to change the world but rather, to learn and listen about what is happening within it. With that knowledge we can work to make the world a better place.
If you want to learn more about how you can support Angry Tias and Abuelas, here is a link to their website.
-Jadyn Kaufmann, Goshen College Class ’24 Nursing major
