On Thursday, April 16, a student panel titled “Immigration: How Can I Help and Where Do I Start?” took place in the Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner.
Dr. Gregory Hoskins, the director of Villanova’s Augustinain Culture Studies program, opened the event with a statement that Pope Francis wrote on immigration in Fratelli Tutti.
“The arrival of those who are different, coming from other ways of life and cultures, can be a gift… for the communities and societies to which they come, migrants bring an opportunity for enrichment and the integral human development of all,” Hoskins said.
Hoskins then introduced Dr. Betty Patch as faculty sponsor of the event. Patch noted the importance of student-led discussions.
“It’s important for students to own their agency,” Patch said.
She mentioned that, by reaching out to herself and Hoskins, a student can find a platform for their voice to be heard.
This panel was composed of students Ana Paula Yárritu Montez, a first-year nursing student, and Jackelyn Macedo Hernández, a first-year business student. Moderating the panel was Dr. Raúl Diego Rivera Hernández, the director of the Latin American Studies Program at Villanova University.
“The goal of this panel is to create a space where you begin to care and where that care can turn into something more,” Dr. Hernández said.
The panel then moved into specific questions for Montez and Macedo Hernández.
The first question was, “How would you explain the difference between an immigrant, a refugee, and an asylum seeker to someone unfamiliar with these terms?”
An immigrant, Montez argued, is a broad term for someone who decided to leave their country and settle in another. The decision is typically motivated by an opportunity to better one’s life, and immigrants may be documented or undocumented.
A refugee, specifically, is someone who has been forced to flee their country because of a “well-founded fear of persecution, war or violence.”
Refugees have been officially recognized as needing protection upon entering a new country. An asylum seeker is someone who is seeking international protection from dangers in their home country. They’ve not yet been officially and legally declared as refugees, but are in the process of reaching that status.
Macedo Hernández noted that the asylum-seeking process may take years. It is nowhere near an easy process. Montez highlighted the fact that, throughout their legal process, asylum seekers are made to relive all of the trauma that led them to where they are today.
Montez gained exposure to this process through working as an interpreter and translator with the CARES Clinic at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. The CARES Clinic (Clinic for Asylum, Refugee & Emigrant Services) is an organization that provides pro bono legal representation to individuals seeking protection in the United States.
Montez explained that interpreters have a higher-stakes job than one may realize. A word mistranslated can change the whole meaning of a sentence, which can have a huge impact on the asylum-seeking process.
Another key question from the panel was, “Can you tell us about some of the challenges immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees face when they arrive in the US?”
“The legal process is long, expensive and impossible to navigate on your own,” Macedo Hernández said.
Macedo Hernández described how immigrants typically face an initial lack of support. As for many immigrants, nothing is familiar to them once they arrive in their new country. She mentioned the language barrier as an especially challenging hurdle.
Mental health and physical safety are also undermined in immigration talks, Macedo Hernández noted. When immigrants migrate alone, they often don’t know where to get help, how to get a job and who to trust. It can create serious anxiety and nervousness.
Towards the end of the discussion, a question presented was, “Why should people care about immigration today?”
Montez explained that it has now become about human rights and human dignity. Immigration is no longer about a specific group of people, but rather about community and its well-being, she explained.
She proposed multiple questions about the systems that deal with immigration. The systems that represent us. Are they really reflecting our values, and will we allow them to continue behaving the same way?
When we fail to speak up, Montez mentioned, we enable these systems to continue practicing what they’re practicing, and in some cases, that includes disregarding human dignity and human rights.
“These issues are not abstract,” Montez noted. “They’re happening right here, and they directly affect our classmates, our neighbors, our local communities.”
A particularly memorable quote from Fratelli Tutti was mentioned to illustrate this point.
“When the dignity of the human person is respected, and his or her rights recognized and guaranteed, creativity and interdependence thrive, and the creativity of the human personality is released through actions that further the common good.”
The panel served as an important educational opportunity for the Villanova community. Hearing from members of the community, specifically students themselves, provides a unique perspective on an issue dominating political discourse. However, it is important to remember immigration is more than a political issue and it impacts many members of the Villanova community.
