Faith leaders from Northern and Southern California visited Calexico, US and Mexicali, Mexico April 26th-27th, 2023 in a multifaith Pilgrimage to learn and bear witness to struggles immigrants are facing at the U.S. – Mexico border in California, and to call for a better future. The delegation first traveled to Mexico to visit a shelter in Mexicali where many asylum seekers have been blocked from approaching the border and seeking asylum and protection. The following day, the group conducted a prayer service in front of Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, US, to bear witness to the suffering of those who are detained inside. The Pilgrimage ended with a visit to the Holtville cemetery of unnamed immigrants who have died in the desert in the region.
The Pilgrimage aimed to shed light on the injustices of the current asylum seeking process and immigrant detention. Fairness, freedom and opportunity should be at the core of our immigration system, but our current system isn’t set up to uphold these values. Instead, the Federal Government systematically blocks and deprives people of their liberty, separates them from their loved ones, and often puts lives at risk in ICE detention. The current system of detention didn’t exist just a few decades ago, and is inhumane and unnecessary: people can navigate immigration proceedings while living with their families or in the community without the trauma of immigration detention.
Learn more about the Imperial Valley, the harms of immigrant detention including at Imperial Regional Detention Facility, and the right to seek asylum with the Border Experience Pilgrimage Resource Guide.
On April 30, the IM4HI Fútbol Club is entering our first-ever team into California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice’s Just Goals “Soccer Tournament for Liberation.” Our team will be starring immigrants who have survived immigration detention and who have been supported by our organization through the Nueva Esperanza accompaniment program, our immigrant justice advocacy, leadership development, and beloved community.
Thank you for supporting our team!
Come cheer us on! You are also invited to come watch the tournament at the Oakland Roots training facility – 1220 Harbor Bay Parkway in Alameda – from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Sunday, April 30, 2023. Parking is limited, so carpooling is encouraged! Wear your IM4HI t-shirt!
Here are some of our soccer players that have survived immigration detention & migration policies:
Khalil is originally from Afghanistan and completed a dentistry degree in India. There he met his wife who is from Mexico and they have a 4-year-old son. As an interfaith (Muslim and Christian) and international family (Afghanistan/Mexico/US), it has been difficult to find a country they can safely call home. While in Mexico, Khalil was violently attacked, and his leg was broken. In 2021, Khalil came to the US and was detained along the border and at a US detention center in Calexico, CA for three months where he witnessed shocking abuse and treatment of immigrants. He finally was granted a $2,000 bond but needed a US sponsor in order to be released. IM4HI was able to help provide an accompaniment team and connections to housing. This tournament will be his first time playing soccer since his injuries in Mexico.
IM4HI Connection: Khalil is a Nueva Esperanza graduate. Soccer career: As a student in India, Khalil played for his university team. Position: Defense
Gabriela is originally from Guatemala and the mother of three children, ages 7, 8, and 11.
After the extortion threats and the attempted kidnapping of her youngest child, she fled Guatemala with her three children. She began the journey north to join her husband who had migrated earlier and was working and living in the SF Bay Area. The journey through Mexico to the US border with three small children was extremely dangerous. They were robbed and detained for some time in a Mexican immigration detention center (funded by the US). When they finally made it to the US border, Gabriela learned that asylum-seeking families would be rejected and denied at the points of entry through Title 42. But “unaccompanied children” would be accepted. She made the heart-wrenching decision to send her three children across the point of entry on their own. She will never forget having to say good-bye to them at that moment. The children were able to reunite with their father in the Bay Area, and Gabriela spent the next month trying to find a way to get across to the US. She made various attempts and nearly died in the desert, but her life was saved by a team of volunteer rescuers. Today, she is here and reunited with her whole family.
IM4HI connection: Gabriela and her family are Nueva Esperanza graduates. Soccer career: Gabriela always loved playing soccer and she is raising 3 very talented young soccer stars. Position: Defense
Paulo is from Brazil and had to leave in 2021 to seek protection and safety. He encountered numerous barriers on his journey to the United States including riding on top of the train “La Bestia,” encountering the Mexican police, one month of detention in an immigration detention center in Mexico, and crossing the Rio Grande. He was then detained in Texas. Today he is in the Bay Area working as an electrician and hopes to soon open his own business.
IM4HI connection: Paulo is a Nueva Esperanza graduate. Soccer career: He is Brazilian! What more to say? Position: Mid-field
Sergio is from Nicaragua and had to leave his country of origin because of political persecution from the government. After crossing the border between Mexico and the United States, he was forced to wait in Mexico as a result of the “remain in Mexico” (MPP) program initiated by the Trump administration. While waiting in Mexico, he suffered kidnapping and an assassination attempt from which he is still healing from the scars. After eight months surviving along the border, he was sent to a detention center in San Diego, as the COVID pandemic unfolded. He was finally freed with a $10,000 bond after six months in detention. After nearly three years, he recently won asylum and is seeking to bring his wife and two children to the US. Today he works in the Alameda County Social Services department. Read more about Sergio.
IM4HI Connection: Sergio is a Nueva Esperanza graduate and is an advocate and author on immigrants’ rights with IM4HI. Soccer Career: Sergio did not play much soccer in Nicaragua. Here in the Bay Area, he has developed his talent and plays community soccer every week. Position: Forward
Yesenia is from Guatemala and the mother of three children. Her journey to the US with her teenage son was harrowing. It included being kidnapped and detained in Mexico for a month, crossing the desert without food and water, and being deported back to Mexico twice. She has just completed her first year in the Bay Area which was full of many challenges. She currently works in a restaurant and a bakery in the East Bay. Her oldest child is here in the Bay Area, and the two younger ones are still in Guatemala.
IM4HI Connection: Yesenia is a Nueva Esperanza graduate. Soccer career: Yesenia comes from a soccer-playing family. Position: Goalkeeper
Through the Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team (NEAT) program, your support of IM4HI has helped ease the transition for 269 newly arrived immigrants fleeing war, climate change, and instability from countries all around the world.
Your support helps people like Kate and Alex, from Ukraine, gain footing and heal after fleeing the ongoing violence and devastation of war.
Kate and Alex speak at Sherith Israel, Feb 2023
Kate reached out to IM4HI while she and her husband were still in Europe, urgently seeking contacts and support in the U.S. We were able to match them with St. Mary the Virgin and Sherith Israel congregations, who agreed to accompany them upon arrival. Kate shares that knowing trustworthy people would be there to receive them meant all the world, helping them feel less alone and alleviating some of the stress and trauma as they fled their home country.
As they continue settling in and rebuilding their lives, Kate shares her gratitude: “St. Mary the Virgin and Sherith Israel have been helping us for over six months. They helped us to find and partly sponsored a wonderful, cozy, and bright apartment, found an immigration lawyer, taught us English, helped us with knowledge and advice, and involved us in all activities so that we would be fully integrated into American society. We are the lucky ones because all the holidays in the USA we now celebrate together. The most important thing is that I know for sure that each of the members of the group sincerely worries about us. And today I can say with confidence that they are our second family here in the United States.”
As faith communities we have welcomed families that have had to flee war, violence, and economic instability from all over the world, including Haiti, Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Laos, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador, among others.
Alex sharing about his experience fleeing Ukraine, 2022
