ASYLUM SEEKERS DRAWN BY PROMISE OF AMERICA
Earlier this month, I was at the Mexican-American border with Practice Mercy, a nonprofit which provides humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers. Though the majority of asylum seekers are from Haiti, Venezuela, and Central America, this week we worked with a group of Russian asylum seekers in the little tourist town of Nuevo Progreso in the state of Tamaulipas and connected through an international bridge to Progreso, Texas. As we talked with them, it became clear that despite all the fear-mongering and anti-immigrant rhetoric coming out of Washington, these asylum seekers represent the best values of the United States, perhaps more so than many of our own citizens and leaders.
Almost all of them discussed the primary reason they were leaving Russia —Vladimir Putin. We met Muslims who told us about the discrimination they faced under Putin. There were also members of the LGBTQ community who were fleeing after the continual attacks on their community and Putin using these attacks to appeal to conservative Russians, so they continue to support his war against Ukraine.
We met one young woman who had directly protested against the war. She talked about how one of her friends had been sentenced to seven years in jail. Her phone was tracked when she was arrested, and she said at any moment a government official could come to her door and take her. Men from Russia and Kazakhstan were there because they refused to be conscripted into Putin’s military. These were brave individuals who risked so much and were even having to sleep outside of the pedestrian walkway of the international bridge on the Mexican side, just feet away from the U.S. officials who wait in the middle of the bridge. The group stays there to avoid being kidnapped by the cartel, because they believed in one thing that Americans love to talk about but often do not actually know the meaning of: freedom.
Unfortunately, people like these Russians are being painted daily as a dangerous threat to our nation by politicians and many media outlets. We say we believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but we are fine telling people escaping dictatorships and untold violence that they cannot seek safety for their family in our nation. The cowardice is profound. Currently, the GOP is trying to force a deal to end or substantially curb asylum. Many of these same people who are the most anti-immigrant are also supporting their own potential authoritarian in Donald Trump.
I was in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, doing interviews, and I saw how close we were to losing our republic. People I talked to that day described what they were planning to do if Congress did not overturn the election for Trump. I am almost glad something happened on Jan. 6, otherwise I think there could have been untold violence in the days after. If Trump is elected again, I am afraid we will be moving much closer to Putin’s Russia than we will be to a free and open republic. Americans are not choosing Trump because they are afraid of disappearing or being sent to jail for seven years, they are doing so willingly.
If we want to understand what makes America great, it is the spirit of people like these Russian asylum seekers and the countless asylum seekers we have worked with from Latin America. They believe in the dream and promise of America — an America that George Washington said should be a refuge to all, not just the highly educated and elite. We are not endangered by the people coming to our border, but we are very close to losing our republic from within as many in the country are enthusiastically standing for a man who stands against the promise and dream of America that these asylum seekers are pursuing.