Immigration is a big issue in America. Like so many important issues being debated, there seems to be little dialogue; only very polarized opinions, criticisms and judgments. This is unfortunate for all of us, not just for those facing deportation. We need to listen calmly and deeply to all the different perspectives in order to find a just solution. Most importantly we must be willing to listen to the stories of the immigrants themselves for each of them has a very important story to tell us.
The USA policy on immigration reaches all the way here to Cambodia. In the late 1970s, as the Khmer Rouge regime fell, the US began to resettle large numbers of Cambodian refugees to the States. They were scattered around the different States, but ultimately many migrated to areas with a climate more similar to Cambodia and where larger numbers of Khmer people were living. Like so many of us, the people of Cambodia like to live in community, and they best found this among their own people.
Having survived life under the Khmer Rouge and a difficult life in the refugee camps, the resettled Khmers also found their new life extremely difficult. Many were suffering from severe trauma inflicted by war and the Khmer Rouge, but often did not receive the help they needed. The smallest children also suffered. Their families, still suffering from the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and not having work that could provide sufficiently, were dealing with many psychological issues which were passed down to the children. The children grew up in low income communities and were influenced by the youth culture in these areas.
At the same time, the resettled families were often not informed of the proper processes for getting citizenship. Many children grew up without any identity papers. This was no problem until they got into some kind of problem such as a charge of possessing drugs, dangerous driving or street fighting. They would be sentenced to prison for a period, and upon release were often again arrested and deported back to Cambodia because they lacked proper citizenship papers – something that should have been provided to them by the authorities where they were first resettled.
These young people abruptly find themselves in Cambodia, a country they hardly know with a language they may not speak. In some cases they have no idea in which part of the country they were born of if they even have any living relatives here. A few come back with severe mental problems and cannot receive the help they need to adjust to a new life.
A local organization by the name of Returnee Integration Support Center (RISC) provides valuable service to these young people as they struggle with adapting to their new life. Not all of them can do it. Suicides are, unfortunately, too common. RISC, with limited funds, provides counseling services, help in getting jobs or just a place to hang out when the going gets too difficult.
This situation reflects many injustices. One of the most glaring of the injustices is that these young people and their families were resettled in the USA by the government but were not given the proper attention needed to find a new home and solid place to live. That same government now deports the youth when they break a law, throwing them into a new situation far from their families, their wives and children and the American life they grew up in.
As Christians we are required to care for the homeless, the hungry and the distraught. Jesus said that what we do to the least of the people around us, we do also to him. This must become a part of the immigration dialogue. It will require us to listen to the stories of the immigrants with love and compassion before passing any judgment on them.
Before we make assumptions about immigrants, or pass judgment on them, let us simply ask them, “Can you tell me your story?” Perhaps we will then discover that we are entertained by angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13: 1-2)