Ben Weinberg, APBCo’s President Elect, published an article in Contratiempo’s February 2015 issue entitled ¿Que clasé de gente? (What Kind of People?) sharing a very personal connection to a hot issue — unaccompanied minor immigrants (see page 21).
English Translation
I was in a dentist’s waiting room a few days before the New Year, and I made the mistake of watching one of those “end of the year” news shows where talking heads from the left and the right argue about the meaning of prominent news events of 2014. I was just about to stop watching, when they turned to the issue of unaccompanied minor immigrants from Central America, whose numbers increased dramatically in 2014 as a result of horrific violence and unstable governments in Central America. The political argument was unmemorable, until the conservative speaker uttered the following words: “What kind of people would send their ten or eleven year old children or grandchildren unaccompanied to the United States from far away?” WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE? I immediately recoiled from the statement. And then I had to go into the dentist for the usually unpleasant poking and prodding. But as I sat there with my mouth agape, I began to think about my reaction to the offensive statement. Why was I reacting so strongly? Maybe it was because I’m a progressive person who generally sides with the underdog and is a supporter of immigrant rights. Or maybe because I’m the Pro Bono Partner at a global law firm called Dentons that has done a great deal of pro bono legal work for documented and undocumented immigrants — and because so many lawyers have been providing pro bono legal assistance to unaccompanied minors and discussing how best to provide pro bono legal services to millions of low-income undocumented immigrants who may be eligible to seek relief from deportation under President Obama’s recent historic executive order. All of this is true, and I suppose some of my feelings derived from my political views and profession. But then it hit me. The reason I was reacting so strongly to the question of “What kind of people would send their children unaccompanied to the U.S.” was because my own mother was an unaccompanied minor.
In 1932, when my mother was ten, she was sent away from her home by her widowed mother to live with grandparents because of gang fighting in the streets. The government was incapable of protecting residents from the armed gangs competing to take control. My mother lived with her grandparents for almost a year, and then was allowed to return home because the violence appeared to have subsided. One of the gangs had grown so powerful that it had taken over the government. After living with her mother for one more year, her mother and grandparents decided that the living situation was growing intolerable because of growing violence and hatred. So in early 1934, my grandmother and great grandparents sent my mother (eleven years old) and my uncle (twelve years old) by themselves on a ship to the United States. My mother was very sad to leave her family and friends in Berlin. And she was terrified about the trip to America. The only English words she knew were “Ok” and “money.” She didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t know where she would be living, or with whom. All she knew was that her mother and grandparents believed that escaping Nazi Germany was the best way to protect eleven year old Erica (Mueller) Weinberg.
And they were right. A Jewish social service agency helped my mother find a foster home. And then a second, and a third. She graduated from high school, went to junior college, and then onto the University of Chicago, where she met my father. Then a graduate social worker degree, and a career of helping children and families live happier lives. And thirty years after my mother arrived unaccompanied in the United States, my parents had their fifth and final child — me. And fifty years after I was born, I found myself in the dentist chair with tears running down my cheeks (and not from the pain of the poking).
So, what kind of people would send their unaccompanied children or grandchildren to the United States from far away? People like my grandmother, who eventually also was able to escape to the U.S. And people like my great grandparents, both of whom were murdered by the Nazis. And parents and grandparents in Central America, who love their children and grandchildren and realize that desperate times require desperate solutions. Let’s not denounce them. Let’s remember that this is a country of immigrants. And let’s help them by ensuring that their children and grandchildren are safe and taken care of. Just like my mother was in 1934.