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Temple Beth El Blog

Working with an Undocumented Family

08/20/2019 05:26:04 PM

Aug20

Bobbie Malone

Marta and Glenn Karlov moved to Madison from Appleton, where they had lived for 12 years and raised a family. As a relatively new member of TBE, Marta spoke with Betsy Abramson about the immigrant action team the congregation had recently formed.

Marta thought it would be a perfect match for her experience. She is an immigrant herself, having come to the United States from Colombia, where, in 1984, she met and married her American husband, Glenn. At the time, it was much easier to immigrate, and she received a green card the day her plane landed. She had no difficulty in becoming a citizen, a process that took her no more than six months.

While Marta understood that many immigrants in this country had stories that were not as straightforward and fortunate as hers, she had not previously become an activist on their behalf. Joining the immigrant action team transformed the trajectory of her interest and passion. Knowing that people seek to be in the United States to improve their circumstances and provide for their families, she wanted to become more involved in helping others negotiate and navigate the tremendous web of obstacles facing them and their children.

More than many of us, Marta realizes what families are facing in countries in Central America. Living in Ecuador and Colombia for many years, she saw firsthand the difficulties people faced in making a living and caring for their children. Sometimes the violence and other unmanageable situations confronting them are truly horrendous.

She became co-chair of the immigrant action team with Erica Serlin and Lynn Silverman, and through them became aware of what organizations like Madison’s Community Immigration Law Center (CILC) are doing. Because of this involvement, she was asked to help Spanish speakers with intake interviews before meeting with attorneys to help them to prepare their cases for asylum.

Marta works for American Family Insurance and is unable to make daytime commitments, but she learned from a non-Spanish-speaking attorney on the board of CILC that a family from Honduras here in Madison needed her assistance. Another Boston-based organization, Together and Free, was trying to help families separated at the border, including this one, with a 15-year-old separated from her father at the border. This young woman had just been released from detention and came here to live with her uncle. Another of her father’s sisters is also here, with her four-year-old.

Marta learned that the grandfather had been killed in Honduras, and then the same gang went after the father and his daughter, because he was a policeman. ICE separated them, deporting the father and placing the daughter in detention.

The social worker in Boston wanted Marta to help this extended family deal with language barriers and other needs. Not long after Marta became involved, the father finally was released from detention after crossing the border again with his pregnant partner, and made his way here with the help of a third organization. Another 17-year-old brother was also detained and deported. The entire family is seeking asylum.

With the help of many volunteers, the father and his partner, the baby born in May, and the 15-year-old were able to get an apartment near their uncle.

Marta also learned that the family member who was deported back to Honduras was sent on a plane with feet and hands bound, traveling all day without food, water, or bathroom privileges: “three hundred people on the plane, all tied like animals.” As Marta aptly expressed the situation: “It just breaks your heart.” Where is the humanity? Where is the justice?

Marta has been helping the family in a variety of ways: making attorney visits with the sister to help her apply for asylum, bringing donations of goods that the family needs, spending time with the 15-year-old to monitor her adjustment. Although some family members have also been helped by Catholic charities, when they called upon Centro Hispano to try to get the daughter psychological help, they were not so fortunate, since the center seems to be overwhelmed with requests for help.

Still, interventions by volunteers within dedicated community organizations have helped the family get much-needed services. Members of TBE have also been very generous with necessities, gift cards, and cash donations.

As for the undocumented brave uncle of this family, whose sister was denied asylum, he has put himself at great risk by helping other family members, because of his own precarious status. Each depressing encounter, such as his brother’s deportation, only deepens his anxiety.

Yet every small act of kindness makes a difference. Marta especially enjoys the way the children light up when she visits with small gifts, such as craft supplies that give them a way to express themselves.

What can others at TBE do to help this family get established? For options to get involved, you can contact Marta, Lynn, or Erica to find how to advocate for immigration reform or to volunteer to assist if and when an undocumented individual or family requests sanctuary.

Through Fabiola Hamdan, immigration affairs specialist at the Dane County Department of Human Services, who works closely with Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, we have since learned that there are at least 12 other families seeking asylum here in Madison.

When we realize how many hoops just one family has to jump through to try to gain asylum, and we multiply that by the needs of many thousands of others, the work can feel overwhelming, but every action we take can make a difference.

Please join us in the long fight for a more just immigration policy and procedure.

April 26, 2024 18 Nisan 5784