Jews in the D

16 | JANUARY 16 • 2020 

for the families and individuals dealing 
with conditions at the border, she said.
Rebecca Kirzner of HIAS said the pur-
pose of these trips is for Jewish leaders 
to “gain a deeper understanding of the 
injustices and complexities at the border, 
and the unconscionable ways our gov-
ernment is slamming the doors on those 
seeking asylum in our country.
“Our goal is to make sure there is a 
strong moral voice in support of the 
rights, safety and dignity of refugees,” 
Kirzner said. “This is not just a legal 
issue or a set of political talking points. 
It is about how we treat others. “It is our 
hope the rabbis and cantors on the trip 
are able to share that message in their 
home communities, and also mobilize 
their communities to help. There are 
many ways the Detroit Jewish communi-
ty can help through advocacy, volunteer-
ing, raising funds and activism.”

“TWIN CITIES”
Once on the ground in El Paso, 
the group met with members 
of the Jewish community and 
with city government officials, 
including City Councilman 
Peter Svarzbein. The Jewish 
son of Eastern European and 
Argentinian immigrants, 
Svarzbein said efforts from 
groups like HIAS convey the 
message throughout the United 
States that the communities of 
El Paso and Ciudad Juarez are 
commercially and culturally 
intertwined like “twin cities” and do not 
wish to be separated by a wall. 
Svarzbein described the situation at 
the border as “more complex and beau-
tiful than one can ever imagine.”
“We understand better than anybody 
else that life at the border is the perfect 
personification and an embodiment of 
the American immigrant experience,” 
Svarzbein said in a telephone interview. 
“The opportunities for both coun-
tries at the border is a blessing in many 
ways. When you think of the American 
dream and what that means, you don’
t 
have a better or stronger personifi-
cation of what that means than right 
here. Communities here have shared a 
cultural and economic flow for gener-
ations, and we do not want to be sepa-
rated by a wall.”

OTERO PROCESSING CENTER
A highlight of the trip included an ICE-
led tour of the Otero County Processing 

Center in Chaparral, N.M., 30 miles 
northeast of El Paso.
Kaluzny was familiar with news 
reports of inhumane conditions com-
ing out of Otero. Recent studies from 
humanitarian groups, such as the 
Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee 
and Freedom for Immigrants, say 
public statements from Management 
and Training Corporation, (MTC), the 
for-profit company running the facil-
ity, do not align with the accounts or 
experiences of those confined in Otero. 
Those individuals report troubling rights 
violations and dehumanizing treatment 
from ICE. They also say ICE inspections 
are largely ineffective at maintaining and 
enforcing the standards of detention ICE 
established for its facilities.
What struck her most as the group 
approached the facility is that, though 
seeking asylum according to U.S. law is 
not a crime, Kaluzny said Otero indeed 
is a prison with barbed wire fences and 
high watchtowers. It was eerie, though, 
that at a facility crowded with 1,000 
men, she said during the tour, it was 
“quiet enough to hear a pin drop.”
Kaluzny described that she saw male 
asylum seekers spending their days in 
a prison. The detainees she saw were 
living in dorms that housed up to 50 
people at a time. 
Though the facility was only sup-
posed to house men, Kaluzny said some 
there looked to be teens or boys; but 
without dental or identification records, 

You don’t walk thousands of miles 
and leave all that is familiar for any 
other reason besides wanting to 
give your family a chance at safety, 
stability and opportunity.

— RABBI JENNIFER KALUZNY

Rabbi Jennifer 
Kaluzny was able to 
hug and interact with 
some children at the 
Leona Vicario Shelter 
in Ciudad Juarez.

continued from page 15

COURTESY RABBI JENNIFER KALUZNY

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