Inkwell ANNIE WRIGHT UPPER SCHOOL
APRIL 2019
THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE
ANNIE WRIGHT UPPER SCHOOL
Inkwell APRIL 2019
Letter from the Editors As immigration continues to be central world conversation and policy, Inkwell decided to investigate it on a local level. Our Annie Wright and Tacoma communities are full of immigrants, and we wanted to shed light on their experiences. We hoped to tell personal stories, rather than contribute to generalized and often unsubstantiated stereotypes and conceptions about immigrants. With the immigration lens in mind, Inkwell partnered with Tacoma Community House, a nonprofit organization that provides services and education to immigrants, in order to both help TCH students practice their English and to learn more about the experiences of immigrants in our community. The conversations we had were illuminating, challenging and inspiring. Our learning culminated in a journey to Vietnam and Cambodia. This issue is a reflection of the people we have met and the issues we have investigated while focusing on immigration. Articles include personal stories of immigration within the Annie Wright community, insights from Venezuelan and Mexican citizens about the states of their countries, analysis of immigration policies and highlights of individuals and organizations devoted to serving immigrants. Immigration is a global issue that takes global cooperation to approach. With this issue, we hope to build connections between Annie Wright, Tacoma and the world.
- Nina Doody, Immigration issue editor, and Allison Fitz, editor-in-chief
827 North Tacoma Avenue Tacoma, WA 98403 inkwell@aw.org | 253-272-2216 Issue 3 | Volume 57 EDITOR IN CHIEF Allison Fitz PRINT EDITOR Nina Doody ONLINE EDITOR Abby Givens ARTS EDITOR Gabrielle Krieger FEATURES EDITOR Jade Cheatham NEWS EDITOR YoungSeo Jo OPINIONS EDITOR Samantha Salamone STUDENT LIFE EDITOR Julia Henning SPORTS EDITOR Kaitlin Tan Inkwell aims to provide the Annie Wright community with reliable and engaging coverage of school, community and global topics. Inkwell publishes articles of all genres weekly at anniewrightinkwell.org, as well as four print news magazines, distributed to Upper School students, during the school year. Submissions of articles, photographs and videos, correction requests and signed letters to the editor are most welcome. Please email the editors at inkwell@aw.org. All published submissions will receive credits and bylines. anniewrightinkwell.org
Contents
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Local connections
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Immigrants of Annie Wright
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Personal perspectives on a country in crisis
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Misconceptions, policies and positions
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Organizations & people that make a difference
The premise was simple: build connection through conversation. Tacoma Community House students could practice their English and Inkwell staff could report on immigrants in Tacoma. Except it was all a bit more complicated.
Annie Wright partners with Tacoma Community House
by Allison Fitz
Inkwell visited Tacoma Community House, an organization that offers services, education, and support to immigrants in our community, four times this year. Photo by Lisa Isenman.
As Donald Trump stands by his promise to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, as millions of Syrian refugees flow out of their country, and as Britain attempts to reclaim and harden its borders, immigration has been a defining global topic lately. In the US especially, it seems there is no agreement about how to handle the movement of people in and out of the country. In the midst of liberal calls to “Abolish ICE” and conservative hopes to “Make America Safe Again,” the conversation about immigration has now shifted away from immigrants and more toward external political feuds. Inkwell noticed this shift and decided to investigate on a local level. Tacoma has a
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large immigrant population. According to The News Tribune about 80,000 people who live in Pierce County were not US citizens at birth. Inkwell wanted to shed light on the personal challenges, doubts, triumphs and aspirations of immigrants in our community that are lost in the global narrative. To that end, we established a partnership with Tacoma Community House (TCH), a non-profit organization that has provided educational, employment, legal and social services to immigrants in Tacoma since 1910. In 2017 alone, TCH served over 3,500 clients from 105 countries. About 700 of these clients were students, 75% of whom studied English Language Acquisition and 25% of whom studied for General Education Development,
according to Amy Diehr, the Educational Services Manager at TCH. Inkwell visited students learning English at TCH four times throughout October and November. The premise was simple: build connection through conversation. TCH students could practice their English and Inkwell staff could report on immigrants in Tacoma. Except it was all a bit more complicated. As we walked into TCH for the first time in our Campbell plaid skirts with our reporter’s notepads and pens, I felt some uneasiness. I didn’t feel ready – or perhaps even qualified – to ask strangers a lot of personal questions about their home countries and why they left. I felt removed from their world.
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commonalities in their reasons for immigration, including freedom, employment, language, love and future aspirations. Read more about their stories at anniewrightinkwell.org.
We entered their classroom, and I took a seat with Amar from South Sudan and Lee from Cambodia. While yes, there were some awkward silences, and I sweat a bit more than I would have if I were just chatting with my friends, conversation flowed more smoothly than I’d imagined. Amar and Lee eagerly shared their stories and asked about my own. I learned that Amar, who was previously a lawyer, came to the United States when he finally won the Diversity Visa after applying for ten years. Lee left Cambodia and has lived in Tacoma for 27 years. His friends in Cambodia call him the “free man,” and he doesn’t vote in US elections because he thinks anyone who runs for office in the US is a good leader he can trust. Each time we returned to TCH, our connections strengthened. While the students' stories and circumstances differed, Inkwell observed some
“There are so many reasons why people come to the United States. And for so many of them, they are not better off than they were in their home country,” Diehr said. She mentioned some clients at TCH who were doctors, lawyers, and prominent judges in their home countries can only find work as janitors, nursing assistants, or in factories here. “They came to the United States to make a better life for their children.” To me, the people we met at TCH embody a type of bravery not many do. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to make sacrifices the way they did, and I don’t think that people who want to separate children from their parents at the border understand the bravery it takes to leave home without any intention of returning.
Even more, I don’t think they understand the ways that immigrants power our nation. “Sometimes people think that [immigrants] come here and get welfare and take our jobs,” Diehr said. “But people come here and bring this incredible fabric of their lives that just enhances our community.” Diehr mentioned some of the ways TCH has benefited Tacoma’s community throughout its 109 years of operations: past clients have gone on to become doctors, business owners, and Olympians. Tacoma’s history with immigration
has not always been bright; in 1885 its Chinese population was forcefully removed, and in 1942, over 7,500 Japanese were held in an internment camp in Puyallup. TCH works to celebrate and support the longstanding multicultural Tacoma community. “I believe, and I think it's true when people come here, that Tacoma is a welcoming place for people. And I like to think TCH has played a part in that,” Diehr said. As political rhetoric continues to invoke fear of the outside and divide us from within, it’s necessary to take a step back and connect with people on a personal level. One conversation can be the start of change.
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Students enrolled in English classes at Tacoma Community House come from many countries, including Mexico, Cambodia, Ukraine and Iran. Photos by Gabrielle Krieger.
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Immigrants of Annie Wright Community members on migrating between countries and leaving their homes Sandra Bush: Colombia Lina Bouzekri Alami: France & Morocco On what she misses the most about her culture: "How collective Moroccan culture is; people are more close to each other. I feel like here people are more individualistic. They both have their pros and cons but I have a preference on the collective, because it emphasizes working as a group and supporting each other in all times." On how she stays in touch with her culture: "I want my boys to know Colombia and know and be proud of their heritage. I want them to feel the same magic I do when we have arepas and empanadas and bandeja paisa and lulo juice, when we hear a Colombian artist, and when we see the Colombian countryside."
Angelina Zhang: China
Mika Pham: Vietnam On what she misses the most about her culture: "I miss most the Lunar New Year because it is a big deal in Vietnam. This is my first time being away from home on Lunar New Year so it’s kind of strange."
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On the hardest challenges of living in a new culture: "My home city, Xi’an, is not as advanced as Beijing and Shanghai, so the children in my city actually don’t have many sources about studying abroad, especially to study abroad in high school. I didn’t receive lots of English studies when I was really young so I think it is more hard for me to live in this new culture."
Rashida Francis: Jamaica
Brittany Wu: Taiwan
On what she misses the most about her culture: "Not growing up with my cousins and being immersed in the roots of Jamaican culture."
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On the biggest challenges of living in a new culture: "I think language is definitely a really big challenge and just being able to talk comfortably in class took me a long time. Also, it was hard to be close with some people because we are exposed to such different cultures and there’s nothing we have in common except school."
Joanne Wang: S. Korea
Chris Lai: Hong Kong On the biggest challenges of living in a new culture: "I’m the only who speaks Cantonese here so I was forced to speak either English or Mandarin. I couldn’t adapt to it first, but I think my English improved a lot, but I still need work for my Mandarin. I also miss my friends in Hong Kong a lot and really miss the food too, so what I do is watch videos about food."
Simran Rakhra: Canada
On why she chose to come abroad: "As I was in the midst of my second year of high school, I strongly felt like there was a huge, deep hole in my heart. I studied more than 10 hours a day but I didn’t enjoy the time at all—I wanted something more, something truly challenging and meaningful to my soul. I had always been a strict opponent of the Korean education system full of competition and pure memorization, but I never imagined myself away from home as a teenager. However, at that particular moment, I had this random courage, spent weeks persuading my parents, and luckily found out about Annie Wright."
Emma Cuthberson: UK On the biggest challenges of living in a new culture: "I sometimes feel stuck when there are differences in just everyday things, for example, how I treat teachers and elders is way different than some other people here, and it makes me kind of uncomfortable."
On what she misses about her culture: "I miss cheaply traveling to different countries. I miss the dry sarcastic humor. I miss the amazing public transport system that means you could take a train across the country quickly and easily. Oooh... and I miss the free health care."
Chanthen’s journey
An immigrant’s story from Siem Reap to Tacoma by Abby Givens Hong described her early childhood as difficult because her family is not wealthy. This meant that she had to help out with farm work by looking after the cows and buffalo, and cooking and cleaning. This amount of work at home in addition to work at school was difficult to juggle. In addition to the stresses already present in her family’s life, Hong’s dad got sick and to pay for his medical bills and medicines, the family had to sell some of their land. Hong started at the Jay Pritzker Academy when it first opened in 2007 when she was in 2nd grade. She learned the Cambodian Khmer program in the morning and then English in the afternoon. Hong talks about JPA as a community beyond just the education it offers. According to her the teachers care deeply about the students and are willing to “step down as a teacher” to talk to the student on his or her level, to make sure everything is okay. This is part of what Hong thinks makes JPA students’ educational experiences so impactful and effective. The community and relationships between the students are also a particularly special aspect of JPA. Hong said there is little movement into or out of the grades. Students arrive at school at 7:30 am to watch the news together and leave at 5:00 pm after they have taken some time to do homework.
Chanthen Hong, pictured here in Sapa, Vietnam, traveled with the Inkwell team to Vietnam as well as her hometown of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Lisa Isenman.
Annie Wright senior Chanthen Hong is driven to influence positive change in her home country, Cambodia. What stemmed from a project sophomore year has led Hong to make a difference in students’ lives through bringing technology and basic supplies to schools in Cambodia’s poorer provinces through connecting with NGOs. Hong is from Siem Reap, Cambodia, and attended Jay Pritzker Academy before she came to Annie Wright Schools as a sophomore. Inkwell talked with her about her story.
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Hong said the drive of her classmates and the understanding and dedicated teachers are what made this school experience so enriching. She described how the people and things she learned at JPA continue to guide her decision making. In high school, Hong was going through some difficulties at home. She was living with another family and it was difficult for her to keep up her grades. JPA approached her about going abroad to experience a new culture and to get away from some of the factors that were holding her back from being able to fully invest in her education.
Hong agreed that this would be best, and worked hard to make it happen. She took two math classes, dropped an English class, and took after-school biology tutoring to bring up her grades and make sure she was prepared to go abroad. Hong was connected with Mr. Bates through a school owner in Vietnam
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who had a connection to JPA. Mr. Bates came to interview Hong and she came to Annie Wright in January of 2017. After Annie Wright, Hong plans, through whatever profession she decides to pursue, to help make a positive impact on Cambodia. She hopes that youth will realize the power they have, and how they can use it by staying involved and knowledgeable on international matters and politics. She said that she believes the strength and influence of youth are evident by the way the Cambodian king dissolved the opposition party once it gained support from Cambodia’s youth. Hong noted how things won’t change overnight, but that it is definitely possible, and that she wants to play a part in such change.
The beautiful and atmospheric Ta Prohm, with giant trees enmeshed in the walls and ruins, is Chanthen Hong's favorite Angkor Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Abby Givens.
Inkwell traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia in March to gain a deeper understanding of political, historical economic, environmental, cultural and women's issues in these Southeast Asian countries. Clockwise from above, rickshaws in Hanoi, mountains in Sapa and Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap. Read a detailed travel blog at anniewrightinkwell.org.
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Double Identity? International students share the story behind their names
by YoungSeo Jo
Some international students who attend Annie Wright Schools have chosen to keep their original names from their individual cultures, while others have chosen to go by a western name. Several of both shared their reasons as to why. Students who chose to keep their original names include sophomore Yebok Hwang, senior Soobin Lee and freshman Hye Ran.
Yebok Hwang: “If I am not
called by my real name, I feel like I am losing my real identity, and also I believe that if people ask how to pronounce my name, they might remember my name.”
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Soobin Lee: “I chose to go with
my original name since I wanted to keep my originality of Korea… Some people have hard time properly pronouncing my name at first, but I like how people try and ask me several times to say it properly.”
Hye Ran: “I chose my original
name because I wanted to keep my unusual name and attended Korean public school before I came here. So ‘Hye Ran’ is more familiar to me.” Other students had many different reasons as to why and how they came to
choose western names. Many students mentioned that they were encouraged or required to come up with a western name by their English language teachers, because when learning English in a nonEnglish speaking country, having English names in classrooms helped create a western environment. The majority also expressed how people from other cultures had trouble pronouncing their original names. Some also said they went by different names depending on where and who they are with. Some of these students include freshmen Avery Ma and Sukie Wang, juniors Raven Chen, Jane Kim, Joanne Wang and Helen Wei, and senior Julia Zhu.
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Julia Zhu: “It became really
frustrating to have to teach people how to pronounce my name every time I meet someone new, so I just went back to using ‘Julia.’ It’s not like I don’t like my Chinese name; it’s just that having a western name just helps me blend in better, since I’m studying in this environment.”
Helen Wei: “I started learning
English when I was little, and there were a lot of teachers who are English native speakers at my kindergarten and elementary school, so my mom thought I would be nice to give me an English name. My mom’s English name is Ellen, so she thought it would be cute to name me Helen.”
A taste of home
Jane Kim: “I kind of felt like
[I was] losing my identity when I am called by Western name, but I think it is better than people messing up my name. Using my western name gives me sense of having a second identity, like "Bunburying" in The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Joanne Wang: “In
kindergarten, my name used to be Winnie because I was in love with Winnie the Pooh as a kid! Then, as I entered elementary school, I wanted a more “mature” name. So, I asked my mom for one, and she came up with Joanne. It also does sound like my Korean name, Jaeyoon.”
Raven Chen: “I chose Raven
because my friend and I were obsessed with a character named Raven in the TV show ‘The 100’.”
Sukie Wang: “I chose this
nickname because it is the name of my favorite childhood cartoon character. Although it doesn’t have any big meaning, it does remind me of my childhood and teapots.”
Avery Ma: “My last name starts
with an M, so when I put together it makes AM. I hope I am like the sun in the morning and always feel energetic and work with passion.”
by Nina Doody
A common passion among Upper School residential students is food, especially food from their hometowns. Food is such a vital part of the culture that Inkwell wondered how immigrants in the dorm community use it to stay in touch with their culture. Junior Joanne Wang noted that food plays an important role in traveling back and forth from the US to Korea. “I think food represents not only taste but also, more importantly, a country’s culture and atmosphere," she said. The first question I ask people when I hear that they’ve visited Korea is 'Did you like the food there?' I think food implies a lot and provides a network of connection between many different cultures.”
Outings to Koreatown, where a variety of Korean foods are sold, are popular. Dorm group events such as cooking hot pot, traditionally a Chinese dish, also provide cultural connections. Wang noted that now that she has friends who are Chinese she has become a “huge fan of hotpot in particular.”
Junior Raven Chen said Chinese food reminds her of home, but cited Japaneses dishes, sushi and ramen, as her favorite foods. Efforts to integrate international food can be seen around the school. The bookstore, for example, sells a variety of different instant noodles and recently added pho, a traditional Vietnamese dish. The dining hall also provides options such as rice daily with lunch and dinner, as well as a wide variety of ethnic foods to appeal to the many different cultures represented at Annie Wright. The dorm also makes an effort, recognizing that food plays an important part in many students' home away from home. Bahn Bot Loc, a Vietnamese dish. Photo by Mika Pham.
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Juniors Joanne Wang and Jessy Li converse in the Upper School for Girls hallway. Photo by Kaitlin Tan.
At Annie Wright Upper School, the established inclusive language policy dictates that during the school day all students must speak English. According to the Educational Philosophy and Policies mandated by the school's Board of Trustees, “English is used as the primary language of communication and instruction within the schools, and inclusivity is a priority for language usage choices within a given group.” When asked what the motivations were behind the policy, Head of Schools Christian Sullivan said, “I had heard from many international parents that they sent their children to Annie Wright to speak English and want them to be able to converse socially with students who can only speak English, and not just with students from their home country.” Last January, Duke University Director of Graduate Studies in Biostatistics Megan Neely sent an email to a group of Chinese students urging them to stop speaking Chinese and commit to speaking English at all times after two of Neely’s colleagues complained about the students speaking “very loudly” in study areas and lounge spaces. The public response was largely negative, with many critics of Neely and the institution. Sullivan said he does not see much of a parallel between what happened at Duke University and Annie Wright's policy, because “many AWS international parents requested that their children be directed to use English as much as possible.” He followed by saying it was unclear whether or not that was the situation at Duke.
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"Although it might at times be awkward and frustrating to be unable to communicate with your friend in the language of your home country, I do think it can help encourage the spirit of inclusiveness and make our community a more welcoming place." Inkwell spoke with non-native English speakers Joanne Wang and Jessy Li about their views on the policy.
Inkwell: What do you think the motives are behind the policy?
JW: I think the core motive is to
prevent language from acting as a barrier to free communication between our students. As an international school, a majority of our students speak more than two languages, and often times feel more
Inclusive language policy sparks controversy by Kaitlin Tan
comfortable speaking in a language other than English, so certain rules should exist to set English as the common language here. Also, I think one of the purposes is to encourage international students to communicate more in English and with domestic students in order to improve their English speaking. I hope this policy can create a more inclusive and comfortable environment for all of us.
JL: I think maybe students feel uncom-
fortable staying in an environment where a lot of people are speaking in another language that they don’t understand. It's understandable, but if it's forcing me to speak another student’s language in my
free time, it makes me kind of uncomfortable.
Inkwell: How do you feel about the AW language policy?
JW: I think it is reasonable and even
necessary, sometimes. Although we embrace the diversity of cultures and languages in Annie Wright, I don’t think language should act as a barrier between the students. I also had several experiences when I felt a bit excluded or uncomfortable because international students from a different country were talking in their own language that I couldn’t understand, and I often hear
students asking for the use of “inclusive language.” So, although it might at times be awkward and frustrating to be unable to communicate with your friend with the language of your home country, I do think it can help encourage the spirit of inclusiveness and make our community a more welcoming place.
JL: In class, I can understand it because
we share ideas and hope that everybody can understand. But if it's during lunch or in the hallway I feel like nobody cares what I say, so why would I like have to speak English? And it's really uncomfortable to speak English to people that speak the same language as me.
Is ICE Savage? by Jade Cheatham and fans, who had publicly sent him support. One of these fans is 10th grade student Carter Nelson, who said, “I was shocked and upset when I heard the news.” Savage was released after nine days by ICE and was granted a deportation hearing. Immediately after his release, he was interviewed by Good Morning America. In his interview, Savage said that he felt as if he was a DREAMer, a person that was brought to the United States as a child without legal permission, rather than an illegal immigrant. Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, better known as 21 Savage, faces possible deportation. Photo courtesy of 21savage.com.
Last February, Atlanta-based rapper Shéyaa Bin AbrahamJoseph, also known as 21 Savage, was detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) for overstaying his visa. It was revealed that Savage was actually from London and arrived in the United States legally as a child, but his visa had expired. According to ICE, his prior felony drug charges were also taken into account when he was detained. The federal agency said that they focus on detaining people with previous criminal records. During the time that he was detained Savage’s legal team continuously provided updates regarding his status, which brought a lot of attention to his situation from other celebrities
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Originally, ICE said that Savage had come to the United States as a teen which was later disproved by his birth certificate, which indicated that he had only been seven at the time of his arrival. He said, “I knew I wasn’t born here, but I didn’t know what that meant as far as when I transitioned into an adult”. When asked if he was aware that his visa had expired, Savage said that he didn’t know what a visa was or anything about the immigration process. Savage also described the moment that he was detained by ICE: “I was just driving, and I just seen guns and blue lights. And then I was in the back of a car, and I was gone.” Savage later said, “I don’t think the policy is broken. I feel like the way they enforce the policy is broken.” His deportation hearing is pending.
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Personal perspective of a country in crisis A conversation with Venezuelan parent Manuel La Rosa by Julia Henning
When dental surgeon Manuel La Rosa left Venezuela at 19, the average number of homicides per weekend was around 45, which was shocking to him then. Now, more than 500 people are killed every weekend just in his city, Caracas, alone. The problem has become so large that body bags often line the streets. According to La Rosa, you don’t drive with your phone in the car, you always leave the window up, and you most likely carry a gun when at the gas station. “You live in a constant state of anxiety,” he said. This anxiety has pushed both of La Rosa’s parents to reluctantly move to Tacoma. The problems in the country are a constant struggle, but La Rosa also talked about how resilient the Venezuelans are. “Even in the face of the worst problems, the Venezuelan people are always very happy. They always love jokes and nothing tends to bother them,” he said. La Rosa was born and raised in Venezuela, and left at the age of 19 to pursue an education in the United States. “In my case, I knew I wanted to do healthcare and I knew I wanted to do surgery. I was always really good with my hands and I was always very curious about putting things together,” he said. He originally thought that he wanted to go into heart surgery, but his father, a dentist, wanted him to look into dental surgery first. After seeing his dad’s friend perform a dental surgery, La Rosa fell in love with the thought of doing that as his career. Because there were no programs in Venezuela for this particular type of dentistry, he applied to universities in the United States, eventually finishing his residency at the University of Illinois, Chicago. When La Rosa left Venezuela, he could already tell there was sharply increasing change and corruption. La Rosa recalled flying into Chicago for the first time: “It dawned on me for the first time that I was by myself in a different country, and I only had a basic domain of English. And it was like a rock hit me, because it was me against the world. But off I went and it was an adventure.”
La Rosa graduating from dental school in 1993. Photo courtesy of Manuel La Rosa.
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Sylvia, Manuel, Sofia and Sebastian La Rosa. Photo courtesy of Manuel La Rosa.
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Once graduating, he met and fell in love with his wife, Sylvia La Rosa, a periodontist. He then did a one-year fellowship in Advanced Head Neck Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Today, they have two children – Sofia is in 8th grade at Annie Wright and Sebastian is in 11th grade at Charles Wright – and they run their own private practice, Sound Surgical Arts. Many in Venezuela and around the world deem last year’s election of Nicolás Maduro illegitimate. The machines that were counting the votes were owned by Maduro’s brother’s company. “Before Maduro used to be President, you could only be President for one term, repeat it, and then you could never be President
again, just like in this country," said La Rosa. "Now he made it so you can repeat being president forever. That sound like Cuba to you? That sound like Kim Jong-un in North Korea? It’s the same.”
“Never take anything for granted. Have a dream and follow it. I’m a product, personally." La Rosa shared a specific story about the effect of the current state of affairs in Venezuela on his brother. “He called me. He barely ever calls me, and I didn’t answer because I was
A view from Venezuela Venezuela is currently at a volatile point in leadership and power. There are millions of people stuck in the conflict’s crossfire. One of those Venezuelan citizens is Valentina Pérez, 21.
His brother started seeing a therapist for depression and to help keep his family strong in these times. La Rosa had advice for young people in the United States. “Never take anything for granted,” he said. “Have a dream and follow it. I’m a product, personally. Most importantly, never take for granted the freedoms we have in this country. The freedoms we have, from a political standpoint, are precious and fragile.”
by Gabrielle Krieger
alone go out to eat or have fun.” She mentioned that she wants to leave someday, but realizes she can't without the means to support yourself.
Venezuela is her home and the only country she knows. She has experienced first hand the hardships under the government of Nicolas Maduro, who has been President of Venezuela since 2013.
Money has completely different worth from one day to the next. If something is a lot right now, “a week later that money won't be worth the same...Right now money is both very valuable and not valuable at all,” she said.
Pérez and her family’s day to day experience has changed under Maduro’s regime in many ways. She mentioned not being able to afford basic packaged foods such as tuna or cereal. "One time my parents skipped dinner, telling us they weren't hungry so that my sisters AND I could eat,” she said.
"One time my parents skipped dinner, telling us they weren't hungry so that my sisters and I could eat.”
On the country’s general quality of life she said, “Venezuela is not a country where you can live. You can't buy anything with the minimum wage, let
Despite the hardships, Pérez said people haven't lost hope. “People in general are hopeful. It's something you can see in people's attitudes, and in their actions.”
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at work. But then I got a WhatsApp message with a video. I have never gotten a video...ever. And he was crying. I called him and asked ‘What’s going on?’ and he said ‘I’m sorry I just can’t take this anymore. What do I do? I’m desperate.'"
According to Pérez, some U.S. citizens she’s communicated with support Maduro because Trump doesn’t. She hopes that Americans will “investigate about the situation, listen to Venezuelans and not base their opinion on their dislike for Trump.”
graphic by Gabrielle Krieger
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Misconceptions about immigration by Jade Cheatham
Many misconceptions about immigrants and the immigration system create a false picture that misrepresents immigrants as a whole. These misconceptions build stereotypes of the immigrant population. These common misconceptions were curated by Amy Diehr, the Educational Services Manager at Tacoma Community House:
The vast majority of foreign-born residents have government authorization to live in the United States. Graphic by Jade Cheatham.
1. There isn't a major difference between a refugee and an immigrant. A refugee is a person forced to leave his or her home country due to challenges within the country such as war and natural disaster. This differs from an immigrant who permanently lives in a different country.
2. People come here and take Americans' jobs. According to the National American Immigration Council, there is little correlation to immigrant labor and the unemployment rates of people who are from the United States. It is common that immigrants work the more unpleasant, but necessary jobs that boost different parts of the economy, and are paid less for their work than a native born worker.
3. Most immigrants sneak into the country. Although permission to enter and stay is limited, most immigrants have gone through the immigration process and have permission to be here; this includes green cards and citizen-
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ships. About three quarters of immigrants in the US are here legally. The multi-step process to enter the United States and obtain documentation is extensive and rigorous.
4. Immigrants take advantage of social services like welfare and food stamps. Generally undocumented immigrants do not have full access to public services such as welfare and food stamps. Immigrants with lawful permanent residence (LPR) status, also known as green card holders, are able to apply for public benefit programs including Medicare.
5. They’re not working hard, not going to school and not trying to better their lives. Immigrants must learn to speak and write English in order to apply for citizenship and pass the required civics test. Learning English also helps them go to school and get jobs. According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, in 2017 "31 percent of the 39 million immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 32 percent of US-born adults."
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Two years into Trump presidency, wall controversy continues by Nina Doody
Ever since the beginning of his campaign, one of President Trump's signature goals is to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the US. Initially he promised that the Mexican government would fund it. More than two years into his presidency, the border wall is still in progress, and Mexico is not paying for it. Trump has sought $25 billion from Congress to fund the wall. On March 5, 2015, before declaring his candidacy, Trump tweeted, "I want nothing to do with Mexico other than to build an impenetrable WALL and stop them from ripping off U.S."
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He considered several different ideas, including steel slats, concrete, a solar wall, and see-through panels. Earlier this year, he changed his promise from "wall" to "steel barrier" in "priority areas." Trump has taken some measures in order to accomplish his goal, including shutting down the government for 35 days earlier this year in order to secure $5.7 billion from Congress and threatening to close the southern border entirely. Neither measure was successful. The physical state of the wall is a mixture of old fencing, upgraded fencing, and a new barrier.
A closure of the border could have severe negative economic impacts, halting imports of produce, auto parts and more. Last year, Trump secured $73 million to upgrade a 20-mile span of a 4-foot anti-vehicle fence to an 18-foot barrier near the Santa Teresa, New Mexico, port of entry. Trump also added a plaque with his name on it on the new sections of the border wall. At the bottom it reads, “This plaque was installed on October 26, 2018 to commemorate the completion of the first section of President Trump's Border wall.�
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Immigration policies from three presidencies by Samantha Salamone A border patrol vehicle stationed at an immigration checkpoint in southern Arizona. Photo by Samantha Salamone.
US Immigration along the Southern border has undergone a series of changes under the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and continues to undergo change during the presidency of Donald Trump. During Bush’s term (2001-09), Operation Streamline was passed in 2005. This policy ordered that all undocumented immigrants who crossed the Southern border – and immigrants that re-entered after being deported – face federal criminal prosecution. According to statistics by Customs and Border Patrol, the number of people that crossed the Southern border illegally decreased dramatically. In 2000, the number of recorded apprehensions was 1,643,679. In 2009, the number of recorded apprehensions was 540,865. After 2009, the number continued to decrease, and by 2017, it was 303,916. In addition to Operation Streamline, the Secure Fence Act was passed during Bush’s term in 2006. This act authorized the construction of a 700 mile physical barrier along the Southern border. Before this, there was already a fence built in 1990 along the border in San Diego, California. The barrier, a combination of pedestrian fence and vehicle barriers, was completed in 2015.
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During Obama’s presidency, (2009-17), Operation Streamline continued. The Secure Communities Program was also replaced with the Priority Enforcement Program. This program focused on deporting undocumented immigrants that have been convicted of a crime, have a criminal record, or pose a threat to society, as opposed to the Secure Communities Program, which focused on deporting undocumented immigrants with no regard to their background. Obama holds the record for the most deportations under a President in US history, with 2.7 million between 2009 and 2016. Many of these deportations, however, were tallied under a new definition of deportation during his presidency, which critics had previously termed “catch and release.” Dr. Luther Adams, an associate professor in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington in Tacoma, said that despite the common impression that immigration policy has gotten increasingly stricter, it has loosened in the past 50 years. “Historically, prior to the Immigration Act of 1965, immigration laws were much stricter," he said. Fewer immigrants were allowed to enter the US and from fewer parts of the world. See for instance, the Chinese Exclusion Act of
1882, the Literacy Act of 1917, and the National Origins Act of 1924. Collectively immigration and citizenship were restricted primarily to white people from Europe while excluding those from Asia, Latin American and Africa.” President Trump (2017 to date) has made immigration policy one of his main priorities and has focused more on it during his two years in office than most presidents do during their entire term. One of the many policy changes under Trump is restricting family-based green cards, which allow for one member of a family to extend his or her green card to other family members, immediate and extended, which results in large groups of people entering the country essentially on one visa. Trump restricted this policy to immediate family only, meaning that family visas only apply to parents, children and siblings. The idea of a barrier across the southern border, one of Trump's most polarizing initiatives, is not original to Trump. Various Presidents, Democrat and Republican, have proposed a physical barrier along the Southern border. Trump's promise of a comprehensive wall, however, ignited controversy and continues to polarize politicians and the public.
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Immigration insight from Mexico: a conversation with Mexico's only female pollster by Abby Givens Girls' Business & Entrepreneurship Program students traveled to Mexico City last fall and met Lorena Becerra Mizuno, the only female and youngest pollster for the only independent newspaper in Mexico, El Reforma. Her position as a pollster makes her uniquely knowledgeable about public opinion. Inkwell had a conversation with Mizuno about reactions in Mexico to United States immigration policies and the current situation at the border in Tijuana. She also shared her views on the future of immigration policy and politics between the neighboring countries. Excerpts of the interview are below. See the full article at www.anniewrightinkwell.org.
INKWELL: What are the biggest motivators for people living in Central and South America to immigrate to the US?
LBM: Throughout time it has been poverty, and in the last
few years it has been insecurity - especially in Honduras and Guatemala - the absence of the rule of law, the prevalence of gangs, and the recruitment of the young for these gangs. People are not able to protect their children from crime, so they are willing to go through the whole journey, through Mexico etc, to get to the United States because they feel they are going to have a better standard of living. The governments in South America, even in Mexico, have been unable to provide institutional certainty, security, and economic certainty for the population. When we started immigrating, in the beginning it was to make money, because they were trying to send money back to their families, but now it is a matter of life itself.
INKWELL: How are American immigration policies perceived and talked about in Mexico?
LBM: In general, it is sort of like a passive agreement. We
perceive that the harshest immigration policies have been Trump and that Trump has been cruel. We perceive a hatred towards Mexico, blaming Mexico even of things that are not factual like the surge in crime. But in the data, we know that it started with Obama, but it just worsened with Trump because it has been a focus of his electorate.
INKWELL: What are the effects of the United States’ harsher immigration policies on Mexico, specifically regarding the people kept at the Mexican border?
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Photo of the American border with Mexico in Arizona. Photo courtesy of John Long.
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LBM: Deportation from the United States to Mexico has
decreased. The people who are there are staying there. Mexico benefits a lot from the remittances; it is up to $30 billion now. For us it is very important for those to keep going, because it is a very important part of our economy. The other fight is the human fight. When we talk about Central America, we have conflicting views, because on the one hand, the population believes that we should be generous to the southern neighbors, that we should allow them to come into the country even though they just want to cross to the United States. But when they are stopped at the border, they are forced to stay in Mexico. We are beginning to see hints of a humanitarian crisis in the border states, for instance in Tijuana they are receiving more population than they can handle. They have asylum camps for immigrants and it has been very taxing on the local economy, security forces and government.
INKWELL: What are Mexico’s immigration policies? LBM: In general, Mexico has sort of turned a blind eye
to Mexican immigrants going to the United States, because obviously it is the government’s fault. The government is unable to provide what the citizens need, and that is why they are leaving. They have not been very successful in receiving the ones that are coming back. There are a lot of government programs, both at the national and state level, to try to receive them, to give them money to begin projects, to become entrepreneurs, etc, but we have not been very successful in that. This is when we talk about the Mexican immigrant. When we talk about the rest of the immigrants, from Haiti, Africa, South America, etc, I think right now we are in a problem. When the previous president was about to leave office, he played a half-off policy with the caravan coming
from Guatemala and Honduras in the past six months. The new president, he hadn’t taken office yet, and he started to have a very welcoming message towards them. He took office in December and by that time a lot of immigrants, more than 7,000, had already come into the country. Now we have more coming in. We have reached out to international organizations to help us deal with the problem, but in general in the media here it has been underplayed. I think it is like a ticking bomb. There are other lateral things like the signing of the new NAFTA and the fact that our new President, Andrés Manuel López, doesn’t want to be confrontational with Donald Trump.
INKWELL: How do you think American and Mexican
immigration policy can best go about addressing this problem?
LBM: I think we have to have cooperation, and we
have to have some sort of triangulation with international organizations, but I don’t see it happening in the near future because in the United States Trump has a very clear agenda of building a wall, and the more immigrants that come in from South America to cross the border, the more his speech is relevant and credible, especially for his base. Now you also have to know that it has been documented that the Mexican authorities at the Southern border, in general, have been more aggressive towards immigrants than the United States has been towards us. Journalists and data show the way that we treat them, the way that we abuse them. The problem right now is in the countries in South America. Their situation has to be solved to get immigrants to stop coming. Mexico is remaining neutral while the United States is actively in favor of [Venezuelan President of the National Assembly] Guiadó. So I don’t see it in the near future, but cooperation will be the best solution.
Mexico's youngest and only female pollster, Lorena Becerra Mizuno, center in blue jacket, surrounded by Annie Wright Upper School Girls' Business & Entrepreneurship Program in Mexico City. Photo courtesy of Jake Guadnola.
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Former AWS board chair offers life-saving services to immigrants John Long shares his story on volunteer work in Tucson, Arizona by YoungSeo Jo John Long, a retired board member of Annie Wright Schools who served as chair for five years, volunteers at the border between Mexico and the United States in Tucson, Arizona. Long contributes by hiking with a group of volunteers to drop off essentials like water, food, clothing and blankets for migrants crossing the border. Inkwell got a chance to speak with him about his experience helping migrants that cross what the volunteers call the "Borderlands." Long described the new shift in the way migrants try to cross the border. According to Long, much of the border between the two countries is now fenced, and migrants are forced to make their way through a “tremendously rugged, remote and very dangerous path.” The migrants are led by so called Coyotes: men who are hired by gangs in Central America to lead migrants into the United States. Migrants pay the Coyotes a large sum of money to be led through the dangerous path that has killed at least 4,000 people in the last five years. Long works with Los Samaritanos (meaning the Samaritans in Spanish), an organization based in Tucson, to do what he can to help migrants. Los Samaritanos does four main things to assist undocumented migrants. First, they help DREAMers (people who qualify for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors act) complete applications to remain in the US. Second, they help
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migrants who reach a safe house process papers and aid in granting them asylum. The organization also has pro bono lawyers that represent migrants in court. Lastly, a group of about 120 volunteers, including Long, drive to the Borderlands to search for active trails, where they drop off essentials like food, clothing, blankets and socks. About five to six volunteers start off at 6:00 am every day to do their part in helping migrants.
to identify them. “Often times there will be families in Central America who will be inquiring for their loved ones and their family, and when we find a skeleton or remain, we have a group that takes down crosses and puts them where the remains have been found,” he said.
"When we find a skeleton or remain, we have a group that takes down crosses and puts them where the remains have been found."
“Migrants don’t want to be found and we don’t want to find them," he said. "There are many, many, many border patrols now, and if they came up to us after we have seen a migrant or talked to a migrant we could be jailed for aiding and abetting an illegal immigrant.” Los Samaritanos accidentally came across migrants twice, but they were quickly told to hide.
“It’s very tragic because the federal government right now treats migrants in many horrible ways. If you were with us, went down, and saw some of the situations we see, it would just break your heart. It is just tragic that these people who are simply trying to find a better life have an almost impossible task of getting to a safe place,” Long said. Long described how two months ago he and his group of volunteers found a skeleton of a migrant. They called 911 and the remains were taken to the medical examination office in an attempt
Long also explained how the last thing the volunteers want is to come across a migrant.
Long started his volunteering missions through a sanctuary church in Tucson. “Our church was the first sanctuary church in the nation, which meant that in the 90s, if migrants got to the church it protected them, and to this day that still happens, although it's very controversial,” he said. Through the church, Long got in contact with Los Samaritanos. "I just felt the need to do what I could do to save one life, and if I was able to somehow provide some kind of aid to just one person coming across the border then it would all be worth it."
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Long has long been empathetic toward undocumented migrants, sprouting from his experience as a hospital president in Yakima, Washington. In Eastern Washington, major crops like apples, cherries, pears and peaches are often picked by undocumented migrants. “As the CEO of the hospital we took care of many undocumented migrants who simply had no way to get health care, I developed a feeling that every person deserves basic health care… People are just trying to survive. They are trying to find new lives. I feel very, very sad for them,” he said.
"I just felt the need to do what I could do to save one life, and if I was able to somehow provide some kind of aid to just one person coming across the border, then it would all be worth it." Of the current legal border laws, Long said, “Clearly our immigration laws need to change. There needs to be a pathway for migrants to be able to become citizens, and there needs to be more judges in the courts to pursue all the cases that are backlogged. There needs to be a way to process, in a humane way, people who want to come into the United States. That’s been our heritage and that should happen.” He also expressed disapproval toward the much talked about wall. “A border wall is completely useless, because the great majority of undocumented immigrants are no longer coming through places that we are working with but they are coming through regular channels," he said. "The bad people, you know with the narcotics and drugs, are not coming through over land; they are coming through by water, by air, underground, and a border wall simply will do nothing. That’s my opinion, but it is also the opinion of virtually everyone who has looked at the facts or knows the situation.” Long stressed the importance of being involved in the matter and understanding different perspectives as a community. “All I would wish is that our society would be more open to understanding the plight of these migrants who, the great majority, are just trying to get into our country to escape horrible life situations," he said. "We have to work collaboratively to figure out how we can sensitively and reasonably make that all work.”
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Former chair of the board of Annie Wright Schools John Long at the Mexican border. Photo courtesy of John Long.
“All I would wish is that our society would be more open to understanding the plight of these migrants who, the great majority, are just trying to get into our country to escape horrible life situations."
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AIDNW opens arms and doors to immigrants by Allison Fitz
AIDNW Program Manager Deborah Cruz (left) and Visitation Program Coordinator Katherine Niall perch on the front stoop of their hospitality office. AIDNW helps immigrants both while they are detained and once they are released from the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Photo by Allison Fitz.
When immigrants are released from the Northwest Detention Center, a private prison operated on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Tacoma tide flats, they are often alone. Their family could be across the country – or world, they might not speak any English, and they might not have any money or means of transportation. AIDNW (Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest) is a nonprofit organization that works to fill such voids. The organization started in 2005, one year after the detention center opened, when volunteers started picking up released immigrants and driving them to host homes in the area. Today it runs
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with one paid staff member, Deborah Cruz, and more than 180 volunteers. In 2015, the organization purchased an RV to park outside the Center, which today serves as a place for released immigrants to find shelter from the weather, make free phone calls, and pick up snacks, clothing, backpacks and toiletries. AIDNW also runs a visitation program, through which detained immigrants can call AIDNW and request a visit at the detention center from a local volunteer. This program has recently grown in popularity; they used to receive only a few requests per month and are now
getting around 20. AIDNW also collects books and donates them to the center, so detained immigrants can learn about U.S. immigration law or practice reading English while they wait for release. Lastly, AIDNW rents a house in Tacoma, called their hospitality office, where released immigrants can find temporary housing for up to 30 days. Deborah Cruz, Program Manager at AIDNW, centers her work around one simple belief: “First of all, we are all immigrants...Everyone came from somewhere,” she said. “And I think it’s our duty to take care of people who are suffering. Period.”
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She also hopes to maintain a warm, welcoming reputation of Americans. “Especially with Trump in office, we don’t look good to other countries,” she said. She wants to ensure that anyone, regardless of his or her culture, nationality, or religion, who comes to the United States, or Tacoma, at least, can stay in the AIDNW hospitality house without experiencing prejudice and discrimination. And Cruz is certainly meeting these goals; released immigrants who have stayed in the hospitality house tell her that her name, Deborah, is famous within the Center. It’s now symbolic of the kind people waiting to accept and care for the immigrants inside once they are released. According to Cruz, only 30% of immigrants detained in the Center are granted asylum. The other 70% are deported. Visitation Program Coordinator Katherine Niall said that those who have committed crimes are never granted asylum. Recently, she has seen many people from Washington, who have lived in the U.S. since they were six months old, deported for a petty crime such as joyriding or smoking marijuana. Generally, AIDNW has a cooperative relationship with the Center. The guards communicate with Cruz regularly, calling to tell her once the final group of immigrants has been released each day. The guards also inform detained immigrants about AIDNW’s programs.
regularly outside the Center, there is an entire grassroots campaign, called NWDC Resistance, that fights to “end the detention of immigrants,” according to their website.) “We’re not friends with them, but we have to respect them,” Cruz said of the Center. But Cruz and Niall also want to tell a more nuanced story about the Center and the people that work there. It is no secret that immigrants held in detention centers lack individual rights and agency. Cruz, however, wants to make sure that assumptions aren’t made about field officers in the Center before they are substantiated. “Those are their jobs...I’m sure there are some nasty people, but there’s a lot who are nice, and that’s [the job] they fell into,” she said.
“As we are going to acknowledge the humanity of the people inside who are behind bars, we are also acknowledging the humanity of the people working there.” -Katherine Niall, TCH volunteer There are also some advocates who want to see the Detention Center completely removed from Tacoma, or at least
question its presence. Niall, however, stresses that if the Center is going to exist, Tacoma is the best place for it. It’s an urban area with access to food banks, public transportation, and many local residents who are eager to volunteer. A detention center in an isolated area would present worse circumstances for released immigrants, Niall said. AIDNW is looking for more volunteers for the visitation program. Volunteers are paired with a detained immigrant, who they visit at least twice a month for about an hour. Volunteers must be over 18 years old. Cruz and Niall also suggested service opportunities within AIDNW for volunteers under 18, including donating backpacks, jackets, coats, toiletry items, and tennis shoes (all in dignified shape), writing letters to legislators, and helping released immigrants find modes of transportation, whether that’s volunteering to drive the immigrants somewhere, showing someone how to get on the train, or simply providing company while riding the city bus. AIDNW is also running a campaign to replace its current RV, to which anyone can donate. Find more information at www.aidnw.org.
Ultimately, however, “We are only able to visit [and operate] by the good graces of the Detention Center,” according to Niall. The Detention Center has no obligation to allow AIDNW to visit detained immigrants or park their RV outside of the Center. To maintain this relatively positive relationship, Cruz and Niall said that AIDNW does not participate in any protests against the Center. (In addition to many civilian protests that occur
Immigrants released from the NW Detention Center can stay in AIDNW's hospitality house for 30 days. Photo by Allison Fitz.