12/2/20
By Julie Swift
Day 8 of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign
#16daysofactivism2020 #OrangeTheWorld #RatifyILO
Before MPP, in my volunteer work at an immigrant shelter in El Paso, I welcomed women after their release from the hieleras, described in the article below. After a chance to eat and a call to their US sponsors, they would go to the showers. For as many as 75 people, the shelter had three stalls for women and girls downstairs and three stalls for men and boys upstairs. One of the volunteer jobs was to assist the travelers and try to get everyone through the shower area by dinner time. But, how do you ask someone who has been wearing the same clothes without a shower for a week to hurry? When you have to get scissors to cut their pants so they will fit over the bulky ankle monitor, how do you say ‘hurry’? I never could. I would talk with those who waited for their turn, strangers sitting side by side on a long bench, babies in their arms and children playing at their feet. They didn’t tell the most horrible parts of their stories. They talked about the number of days they had traveled, where they were from and the relatives and friends they would soon be reunited with. But, often the worst parts of their stories showed in their eyes. As resilient, stoic and hopeful as they were, I know they carried pain with them. Read more below to hear stories from people like the women I met and to learn more about the dangerous and dehumanizing culture of ICE and CBP: