Observing the Stranger

"50 ft. intervals, Back Alley, Berkeley to Arlington Streets, in Shadow, Man at Middle Distance, 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M." by MIT-Libraries is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

I was driving the kids to visit their great grandmother on Tuesday when I noticed a group of men walking in the middle of an empty field about three quarters of a mile from our house. It's been raining a lot around here lately, and the fields are bare and muddy. Several of the men were walking barefoot, carrying their shoes. 

We live near train tracks, and a large group of illegal immigrants have been caught doing something similar in the field across from our house already this year. I suspected that this group of men were probably illegally here too. 

I ended up calling our local Border Patrol office to alert them; it turned out they already had people calling in to report. I was relieved I wasn't the first to call, partially because part of me didn't want to be the reason they got caught. They were here illegally the local constable ended up catching eight men.  

I felt pretty conflicted about it. I still do. I know that many, most, probably all of those men are here to find work and try to make a better life for themselves or their families back home. But I also know that they were probably hungry, thirsty, and desperate. Border Patrol would at least make sure that they were fed and hydrated. And I've also heard stories from people we know about when they were assaulted, threatened, and robbed by men like these coming through the fields. 

So I'm faced with the dual reality of feeling sympathy for the people in this position and being faced with the reality that desperate people do desperate things, and their presence may actually constitute a threat to my family.  The human suffering involved in these stories is very, very real. At the same time, I'm not willing to allow a credible threat to my family to remain nearby if it's in my power to mitigate it. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We need to find a way for people to come in legally to work. For their sake (it's way, way, WAY easier to abuse people who aren't "supposed" to be here in the first place) as well as for the sake of the communities they're coming into. Let's stop forcing people into desperate situations and allow them to come in by the front door instead of sneaking in through a window. 

In the meantime though, I'm not sure what to do. It's hard to know how to love in situations like this. 

I'm left with simply what I can do, which is to protect my family and give to organizations that can go out to meet people and help them.

I guess I need to give the rest to God and beg for mercy.