Day 2: Rethinking, Reflecting, & Recharging!
Dear Parents,
We've survived our first
full day!! Contrary to popular belief, we are actually NOT in El Paso,
Texas, right now. Don't worry, we are in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a
nearby city, and it's been great. Our day can be categorized into three
main themes: rethinking, reflecting, and recharging.
We
started off our day in the Federal District Court of Las Cruces, where
we watched 91 defendants appear in front of Judge Damian Martinez. Even
before we entered the courtroom, we could hear the clanking of shackles:
the defendants, now classified as criminals under the new
administration, were shackled at the wrists, waist, and ankles. In
monochromatic jumpers labeled with their various detention centers on
the back, they sat on the benches right in front of us. T went up to the
microphones in groups of about ten, some represented by attorneys and
others not. It was a mix of preliminary and detention hearings, though
no hearing lasted over five minutes. They had two real-time Spanish
translators sitting off to one side who spoke to most defendants through
headsets. We were able to have a Q&A after all the defendants had
been processed. Witnessing defendants who were as young as 19 years old
appear alone before the judge was an emotional experience for all of us,
and it really made us rethink our privilege, our media-distorted
perceptions of the process, and humanized our images of everyone
involved in this process.
When we left the
courthouse, we were all starving for lunch. The temperature was in the
triple digits when we stepped out, and we were all so grateful for the
AC in the vans. We had a short drive to the migrant welcome campus in
Las Cruces, a place that used to shelter migrants but is now locked and
barren. We had to call someone to come open the barbed-wire gate to let
our two vans in. We had a quick sandwich lunch and then had the
privilege of hearing a talk from Professor Nicholas Natividad, who
teaches Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University. He spoke to us
about the history of immigration and borderlands culture, and how it's
changed over time. Through a few quotes and lots of probing questions,
he made us reflect upon immigration laws, policies, and their impacts.
With an especially memorable quote, Professor Natividad reminded us that
the very immigration laws our country has today were created by
immigrants and the descendants of immigrants. We reflected on the impact
shifting border lines could have on a single person's life; his talk
was informative and thought-provoking. We were also able to all
interview him afterwards for our research projects!
As
Dr. Hanson famously quoted to us, "A change is as good as a rest," and
that was very true. Though we had not been back at the hotel all day, we
hopped in the vans again and drove to Walmart. There, we had a shopping
competition for ingredients for a culinary experience tomorrow. (Stay
tuned!!) We had to scour the humongous Walmart in teams for ingredients
like frozen passionfruit, white cornmeal, and a pound of tomatoes (which
turned out to just be two tomatoes). We were able to shop for snacks
later, but proceeded to plow through more than what we had rationed for
the day in the following hour. We recharged with some down time before
dinner, where we played with cards and what turned out to be a $200
World Cup soccer ball. We have some pretty good soccer players on our
team, and the fences here are about four feet tall. You can probably
imagine what happened afterward. We do not have an update on the ball
just yet, as there was a ferocious pitbull mix in the backyard of the
vacant house it bounced into. Please see below for photos of us trying
to spot the ball after dinner.
See you guys tomorrow!
Hannah Y, Autumn, & Zoe
