Motivated by the love and teachings of Jesus Christ, Catholic Charities of Dallas serves, advocates for and empowers people in need regardless of race, religion, age, gender or national origin; it also calls the community to action. The Immigration Legal Services program was established in 1975 in response to the growing number of immigrants moving to the North Texas area. Our staff are committed to help community members understand immigration law and know their rights under the law. The program provides a broad range of immigration counseling and representation to immigrants and their families, from family petitions, assistance to victims of crime, citizenship, community education and resources, and removal representation.

Dallas has a large immigrant community. One in four residents of Dallas are immigrants, and the immigrant population increased 7.2% between 2011 and 2016.¹ Dallas is known to have access to many immigration nonprofit organizations working to help meet the legal needs of immigrants — including Catholic Charities of Dallas Immigration Legal Services, RAICES, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, among others. During the past several years, changes in immigration policy and the increased number of unaccompanied minors coming to the United States prompted us to expand our collaborations to meet the growing needs of the community. These efforts were helpful, yet not permanent or ongoing. After the 2016 elections, fear and anxiety increased among local families, and these collaborations with key organizations grew. As a collective, our goal was to create a strategic network to share resources with the community, provide “know your rights” presentations and link people with the resources they needed. This is how Force for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment, or FIRE, was born as both a resource and a rapid response coalition.

On April 3, 2019, an immigration raid at a tech company in Allen, TX resulted in 284 people being detained and processed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which negatively affected many Dallas / Fort Worth families. Immediately after this occurred, our community responded. Nonprofit organizations, churches, local groups and coalitions came together to educate, prepare and empower those in need. People showed up to the raid site to ensure people were not being mistreated; others hosted vigils and shared information via social media from the ICE detention center; nonprofit organizations offered free screenings to those who were released by ICE to find permanent relief, if available. These swift and meaningful responses were possible because we had a group dedicated to rapid response situations like these. The Dallas-based FIRE had certainly been preparing to help in times of need.

During 2019 Convening, Attorney Tania Guerrero hosted a brown bag session to discuss a rapid response toolkit CLINIC had been creating to help communities stay organized, prepared and educated in case of an emergency. Guerrero aimed to foster dialogue and encourage feedback to develop a tool that would be effective and meaningful. We discussed the different needs of each community, and how we can work together to better prepare those who need our services and train those who can help.

“Learning from past experiences and from others who, like Nubia, have been first responders for their communities brought unique insight to the development of a rapid response team and what to consider when building one,” said Guerrero. “A toolkit like this one is meant to inspire us to come together and reminds ourselves we are not alone; as a community, we are stronger when we are united.”

Every day, we see increased ICE activity in cities all around the country — emphasizing the need for a rapid response plan for local groups. Our work as immigrant advocates has changed in the last couple of years to focus more on the education, training and preparedness aspect of immigration justice. Being ready and educated about our rights strengthens our communities.

We believe work with vulnerable populations must be done at different levels and in different ways — and that we all can contribute with different talents. In the Dallas area, we have been working in three different initiatives to prepare for emergency situations, like the ICE raid this past April. The first is our rapid response group, FIRE. This coalition was designed to be the first line of response for emergency situations like workplace raids and ICE sightings. It is also intended as a source of reliable information on social media, to prevent the spread of unnecessary fear among immigrant families. FIRE has provided the necessary strategy to train volunteers, bring groups together to respond and offer resources in cases of emergency.

The second is the Dallas Responds group, a group of mostly religious organizations, of all faiths, that have come together to receive migrants released from El Paso-based detention centers. Thanks to team efforts, we were able to receive around 60 migrant families in Dallas. We provided food, medical services, legal immigration services, transportation and housing during their transition period, as they prepared to move to their final destinations. Since then, we have continued to train our faith groups and community members to know how to respond to emergency situations and have collected resources to use in these cases. Finally, we have partnered with the two biggest immigration nonprofits in Dallas, as well as the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, to train and prepare non-immigration attorneys to assist with asylum and bond hearings for people without representation — and give them a better chance to obtain relief.

Calling community to action requires all of us to work together to help vulnerable groups. We can strengthen and secure our community in times of anxiety and fear by being prepared, trained, educated and available to those who need us the most.

^1. New Americans in Dallas, New American Economy. https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/new-americans-in-dallas/ February 28, 2018

May 6th was the first day of our week-long mission at the improvised Salvation Army shelter in Yuma, AZ.  Catholic Community Services, a faith-based nonprofit, through their staff and volunteers, coordinates the family reunification efforts for the migrant families arriving at the shelter. They help asylum-seeking families reach their final destination in the U.S. after being released from immigration detention.

This story is about a particular family whose struggle was at the center of our hearts that week. 

As day one went by at the shelter, the staff trained us on how to coordinate reunification efforts by reviewing the intake notes from each of the more than 100 families with children that were staying at the shelter. Our goal was to reach their families in the U.S. by phone so they could help them make arrangements for their trips, either by bus or by plane. Because the space at the shelter was limited, it was important to expedite reunification efforts to make room for many more waiting to get in.

I came across a particular intake that had a yellow sticky note that read “mother waiting for missing 4-year-old daughter who got lost while crossing the border.” Yes, I read that again, and then again. I sorted through the intake to see what else I could learn about this family. As it turns out, Maria,* the mom, had made the journey from Guatemala with her three daughters — ages 2, 4 and 8. Four-year-old Juanita* was missing.

Through my work with the immigration legal services program at Catholic Charities in Washington, I have had contact with families of children the government separated from their parents between 2017 and 2018; however, this cruel practice had stopped.

Maria and Juanita’s case was different.

I called Maria through intercom at the shelter, and she quickly came running with her two other daughters. As I saw her approaching, I noticed a smile on her face. It dawned on me that she probably thought her daughter Juanita had arrived and that’s why she was being called.

I sat down with Maria to try to get the details of the separation. To my surprise, I could not communicate very much with her due to a language barrier. Maria spoke a native language, K’iche, which is spoken in a small region of the Guatemalan highlands. She did not speak Spanish.

While I searched among shelter residents for suitable interpreters, I noticed that Maria held her two daughters close and would not leave them out of her sight. I cannot meaningfully describe the look in their eyes. Even the 2-year-old looked deeply sad. 

After several failed attempts to find an interpreter who spoke K’iche, we got a match. I started asking Maria about her journey, to get as much information as possible. I suspected the interpreter may depart the shelter without much notice, leaving Maria and I without a means to communicate.

Maria shared that she was climbing a wall from the Mexican side into the U.S. with her three children. She held her 2-year-old while her other daughters were helped by other travelers. Then, the details got confusing. In part, because Maria was too traumatized by the separation that she found it difficult to retell the story. She cried and begged for help finding Juanita.

On day 2, I arrived at the shelter and had a pile of phone calls to make. I was also faced with a dilemma: should I start making all those calls or should I try to find Juanita? If so, where do I start? I only had her name and date of birth, not even a picture. Did she make it to the U.S., or did she get stuck in Mexico? Does the U.S. government have her?

And then one bigger question and fear: Did someone else take her?

I carried on with making calls.

Day 3 arrived. I had placed a call to the Guatemalan Consulate to alert them about the situation and ask them for help on Maria’s behalf, but I was left with very little hope. Later that day, I met with Maria, who was clear that she did not want to leave the shelter without Juanita. I knew the chances that Juanita would be brought to the shelter, if found, were slim. Maria then came to the realization that she would have to leave the shelter without Juanita — and it broke her. It broke me too.

That night, I went to a small chapel nearby and prayed. I talked with God and asked him for his guidance. I gently reminded him that I was not originally scheduled to join that mission, as the call came in at the last minute after a colleague had fallen ill. HE had brought me there that week was for a reason.

That same night I sent an email to a government contact in Washington. My email was short and had a desperate tone. The next morning, day 4, I had received an email confirming that Juanita was at a U.S. government children’s shelter in Michigan, some 2000 miles away. 

I ran to the shelter that morning, so Maria could speak with Juanita over the phone. Juanita was crying, in distress. Maria was happy to hear her daughter had been found and was safe.

Day 5 arrived. It was May 10th. It was Mother’s Day celebration in Mexico and other Central American countries, including Guatemala. Our last day was also Maria’s last day at the shelter. Her family had made arrangements for her to travel to Tennessee, where she would be expecting Juanita in just a few weeks after completing some required government paperwork.

Maria and her daughters were smiling while wearing new clothes and holding backpacks with supplies for their long bus journey. Most importantly, they had a whole lot of hope: the hope to reunify with Juanita soon and be a family again; the hope for new beginnings and opportunities.

* Names have been changed to protect identities.

About the author: Jenny Cachaya is a Department of Justice fully accredited legal representative at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Immigration Legal Services department. She is also a master’s degree student in social work at The Catholic University of America. Jenny, an immigrant from Colombia, is passionate and devoted to serving the most vulnerable.

The soccer world and millions of fans celebrated worldwide this summer, as the U.S. women’s soccer team clenched their fourth World Cup and Mexico’s national men’s team took the Gold Cup at the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, or ConCacaf. While fans continue to rally around upcoming Major League Soccer games and the International Champions Cup, some local recreational teams have gained momentum for their own upcoming season.

La Unión F.C., a New York-based recreational youth soccer league, will return to the field for its 3rd season this winter. The team, whose name means “the union” and was chosen by its players, is part of the Unaccompanied Minors Program in the Immigration and Refugee Services department of New York’s Catholic Charities Community Services, or CCCS. The team’s mission is to nurture unaccompanied minors into becoming community leaders through teamwork and achievement in soccer. The team of 140 players meet weekly and play at the local Catholic school. Players are divided into their designated age groups and include co-ed players who are both recent immigrants and long-time residents.

Elvis Garcia, a former CCCS employee who arrived in the United States as an unaccompanied minor himself, created the team. Garcia felt soccer would inspire others and serve an integral role in integrating the community, as it did for him. Unaccompanied minors travel to the United States for many reasons, sometimes to escape violence from their home countries or to reunite with their families. The team — a great success in the community — has provided a sense of belonging for newcomers. Friendships have been born among youth who come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Team members of La Unión F.C. have sometimes attended professional games together and once had the opportunity to play with professional players of the NY Futbol Club. The team  also makes occasional day trips to visit youth currently detained in shelters, and some players have gone on to receive college scholarships.

“It’s not just about playing soccer, these youth also develop their skills in teamwork, leadership and character development,” said Anthony Enriquez, director of the unaccompanied minors program. Enriquez and his team are planning their next moves to bring additional resources to the team and the community. In addition to increasing enrollment, they would like to provide academic support to the players and provide legal screenings and other community legal services during soccer events. Lastly, the program hopes to launch soccer programs inside federal shelters for unaccompanied minors.

This is not the only instance where sports have created an opportunity for inclusivity. Joe Maddon, the Chicago Cubs manager, launched the Hazleton Integration Project in 2012. This project has worked to bring disadvantaged youth together to participate in sports and other recreational activities as a way to foster peer learning and the true appreciation of cultural similarities and differences.

CLINIC applauds the Immigration and Refugee Services department of Catholic Charities Community Services and La Unión F.C. for creating a safe space for youth while promoting inclusivity. Email us at lspeasmaker@cliniclegal.org to tell us how your community is promoting integration!