Jews in the D

18 | JANUARY 16 • 2020 

it was hard to prove. 
Kaluzny said when they vis-
ited, only 19 of the 1,000 men 
being held there had any crim-
inal record. 
She said the detainees have 
little privacy or freedom of 
movement; even access to 
showers and bathrooms was 
monitored. 
She added that detainees are 
allowed fresh air two hours 
per day. There are scheduled 
meals. They can choose to 
make a phone call, however, a 
two-minute phone call costs 
more than $1, which is more 
than they earn for a full day’
s 
work, Kaluzny said. 
As the HIAS group toured 
the facility guided by Otero’
s 
warden and ICE officials, 
Kaluzny felt the prepared 
responses to their questions 
did not reflect the reality they 
were seeing. She said they had 
no individual conversations 
with the detainees. 
“I walked out of there think-
ing that I was being told (by 
the warden and by the ICE 
officials) to not believe what 
my eyes are seeing and ears are 
hearing,” Kaluzny said. “The 
language our escorts used and 
how they described the place 
to us made it sound like Otero 
was a place (the detainees) 
were grateful to be, but this 
was not how it appeared.” 
At Otero, the group 
observed men confined in 
an infirmary through a glass 
window, saw where they 
could sit at chairs and speak 
into a phone that was snaked 
through a hole in the glass, 
and saw a solitary confinement 

cell where men were fed meals 
through a slot. 
One of the rabbis was a 
native of Venezuela and could 
communicate a few sentences 
to the detainees in Spanish as 
well as serve as a translator 
during meetings with those in 
Mexico. 
“In the brief moments we 
were there, the best we could 
do was exchange a smile and 
communicate to them that 
we were there not to hurt or 
embarrass them,” Kaluzny said. 

CIUDAD JUAREZ
In Ciudad Juarez, officials 
from the Mexico Protection 
Program toured the group 
through the Leona Vicario 
Shelter that houses 650 people 
(with only 250 beds), 40 per-
cent of whom are minors. 
There, Mexico treats them 
as humanely as possible, pro-
viding them with shelter, food 
and clothing as well as hygien-
ic facilities. The main down-
sides: Though they all had 
already presented for asylum, 
they must wait in Mexico for 
their hearings in U.S. immi-
gration court and, if they leave 
the encampment, they fear 
for their lives from the drug 
cartels. 
Here, families are sheltered 
in bunk beds and children 
receive some education. Some 
will venture outside the com-
pound to find work in town 
and there is a daycare center, 
but many fear for their lives 
from the drug cartels and do 
not leave, Kaluzny said. 
Despite the language barrier, 
she did have the opportunity 

to interact with the children, 
some who came up to the rab-
bis to receive hugs. 
“I saw moms nursing babies 
and other children fast asleep 
in their exhausted parents’
 
arms. I wondered if they were 
getting everything they need, ” 
Kaluzny said. 
“When I saw them, I saw us. 
I wanted them to know they 
have been seen and heard. 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.”
Now that she is back home, 
Kaluzny said that this year she 
hopes to teach a course about 
immigration through a Jewish 

lens based on materials pro-
vided by the Pardes Institute 
of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. 
But, mainly, the best thing she 
can do is to keep talking about 
what she saw at the border and 
encourage her peers, families 
and friends to keep the con-
versation going at home. 
“Even though there is less 
news coverage of this issue, 
it is still happening,” Kaluzny 
said. “It is far from resolved 
and we need to keep this as an 
issue in the front of people’
s 
minds. 
“
As Jews, we must always 
remember and welcome the 
stranger. This is a human issue 
and we need to give them a 
voice.” 

RABBI JENNIFER KALUZNY

Traffic was heavy at 
t 
he border between 
Mexico and the U.S. 

continued from page 16