In the ongoing debate over immigration reform, there seems little or no recognition that this issue extends far beyond Mexicans and people from Central and South America coming across our borders.
Post reporter Bruce Finley’s recent article in the Post did touch on a number of other countries from which people are fleeing in fear for their lives, but still the stereotype of the undocumented immigrant as migrant laborer persists.
The Rocky Mountain Survivors Center works with people seeking refuge from countries where civil strife, war and persecution are the order of the day. The people who come to the center for treatment have endured unspeakable horrors. They are victims of brutal violence and torture. Some have watched family members being murdered. They have finally managed to escape to the U.S. and to what they believe is a safe haven.
These immigrants – documented and undocumented – are African, South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, from the Caucasus and from Central and South America.
Many of these vulnerable people would be classed as criminals in some of the immigration legislation that has been proposed. These survivors will not be marching on the state Capitol or waving the flags of any nation. The effects of torture, and the fear of further torture if they are returned to their homelands, keeps them from speaking out. It takes all of their courage simply to get on a bus and come to the Survivors Center for treatment.
One of our clients arrived in Colorado only a few months ago from Africa. He was branded as a subversive by the current government, largely because he is of the ethnicity formerly in power. He was scooped up by secret police and held in detention for more than four months because of his alleged connections with the opposition.
In order to extract a confession from him, he was tortured – physically, sexually and psychologically – including ongoing threats to hurt his wife and children. The moment he was let out of detention, he fled the country with false documents, which was the only way he could escape without being identified. He did not even get to speak with his wife and children, leaving them behind with no certainty of seeing them again.
To get into America, he crossed the border near Matamoros, Mexico, and then made the difficult journey to Colorado, where he was detained while he made his case for political asylum. Today, with our support, he is beginning to piece his life back together, waiting for his asylum to be approved, getting legal, health and social services, and starting the long process toward reunifying with his family members still in Africa.
That is the reality for many of those we serve at the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center. It is unthinkable that after having endured torture, they could be considered “criminals” simply for having entered our country without filling out all the paperwork. Survivors seeking refuge have every reason to fear authority, but they still wish to have the opportunity to make their case for political asylum before our courts.
Political asylum is a right that should be preserved and upheld as a distinguishing feature of a civilized society. In fact, landmark bipartisan legislation, called the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998, has enabled a network of rehabilitation centers like ours to flourish across the United States. The federal government funds our services precisely because survivors are a category unto themselves, deserving of our understanding, patience and compassionate action, and of our services without regard for immigration status.
Finally, from the perspective of our security as a nation, why would we run roughshod over a population of determined defenders of democracy in their home countries? Why would we denigrate people who suffered to protect political and religious expression? I urge those who advocate for more restrictive and punitive immigration reform to pay closer attention to the ramifications of their efforts, and consider who it is they might be penalizing. Survivors are the ambassadors of freedom.
Ernest Duff is the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center in Denver.
