9 minute read
Immigration Insights
Immigration Insights
by Jana Woodiwiss
“Family separations are pivotal moments in the lives of everyone involved. I know because I’ve felt it firsthand.”
I was adopted from San Salvador, El Salvador during the 1980s. This was a tumultuous time for the country as it was in the middle of a civil war. My adoptive parents provided me with opportunities I could never dream of within the context of the destruction faced there. On the flip side, I lost my biological family, culture, and language -- all of the things that made me feel on the inside like I look on the outside. I struggled with that into adulthood. My adoption and recently being reunited with my biological family play a large role in the work I do today.
Inspiration for the trip came from my time with Dr. Jenay Beer, associate professor holding a joint appointment at the School of Social Work and College of Public Health. In her Fall 2022 Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) class, she challenged students with the question, “How are agencies benefiting from the research you are conducting with them?” My research with an agency in South Georgia named El Refugio immediately came to mind. El Refugio is a 501-c3 nonprofit organization that assists immigrants at Stewart Detention Center (SDC) and their loved ones through hospitality, visitation, support, and advocacy.
I reached out to my colleague Patti Ghezzi, Development and Communication Coordinator with El Refugio and asked the question, “What does El Refugio need?” She asked about getting student visits to the agency started again, which had ceased following the COVID-19 pandemic, and we agreed to explore getting a group together soon.
A few weeks later at the 2022 Council of Social Work Education conference in Anaheim, California, I connected with Dr. Jane McPherson about resuming trips for students down to El Refugio and SDC. SDC, run by the private corporation Core Civic, is a medium-security detention center housing immigrant detainees facing charges from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The facility houses more than 1,700 individuals, and it has grown a reputation for being one of the most dangerous centers in the nation when factoring illness, death rates, and human rights violations.
School of Social Work faculty and students had made trips to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. before the COVID-19 pandemic, and I wanted to revamp the effort and give students the opportunity to visit El Refugio and learn about the agency, detention center, family separation and the economic impact of detention centers on local communities. Dr. McPherson was onboard, and she invited me to guest lecture in her International Social Work class to discuss detention, deportation, and pitch the trip.
The next order of business was obtaining funding. I initially sought funding from the Office of Service Learning with the SL Support Grant, which provides $500 to support activities related to developing, implementing, or expanding academic service-learning opportunities for UGA students. Unfortunately, our project did not qualify. Next, I met with Dean Phillip Hong and other members of the SSW and presented our trip proposal. Dean Hong approved and funded our proposal to visit El Refugio and SDC. Additional funding for the trip came from the University of Georgia Women’s Club, via the Dianne C. Davidson fellowship I received last summer.
Two masters-level students from the School of Social Work helped with logistics and communication for the trip. George Harrison Shu, co-president of Students for Global Social Work and Shelby Lopez, who hosts an online podcast about immigration raids titled Solo Eramos Ninos with her husband Angel Lopez.
Between the weekends of February 18 and February 25, 2023, we took two dozen students to El Refugio and SDC. Each group made the threeand-a-half-hour bus ride each way to meet agency volunteers and hosts at the El Refugio guest house.
The first trip was hosted by El Refugio long-time volunteers Marilyn McGinnis and Holly Patrick. We took a closer look at the facility’s history, its impact on the community and the politics surrounding it. They were able to share intimate first-hand experiences of working with families separated from their loved ones and the social and economic challenges that were the fallout from their absence.
The second trip was hosted by El Refugio’s Board Chair, PJ Edwards and his wife Amy. PJ has never met a stranger and has more knowledge about detention and deportation in the United States than anyone I have ever met. After the lesson, we were able to walk around the Lumpkin town square. It was a ghost town. Shops abandoned and ravaged encircled the town’s courthouse. At first glance, we just thought these businesses were closed due to it being the weekend, but upon walking up to the buildings we could see they had not been used in quite some time.
Every student saw the layout of the facility, along with a line of vans that move detainees from the facility to airports if they are deported. They experienced the hyper security and surveillance indicative of prison. El Refugio’s webpage has an excerpt that hits home when describing the effects of the present immigration system: “detention steals the dignity of immigrants.” Loss of family, security, legal rights and information regarding their own cases are an experience that accompanies the horrific environment they left in their home country and perilous journey to request asylum they had already faced. This – the SDC -- is their welcome.
Due to certain limitations at SDC – including a limited number of telephones to speak with detainees and the need to speak fluent Spanish – only three of the 24 students were able to actually speak with individuals incarcerated; this number we hope to increase in future visits. Those students, however, were able to share what they learned from detainees with the group and made for great discussion to reflect on and process on the long rides back.
Individuals that were detained shared their struggles, like unknown court dates, inability to speak with family members and poor facility conditions. All factors that can lead to stress, anxiety, and depression as outcomes of their stays there. One top of those issues, those detained are housed in pods with other individuals facing a variety of charges. Many are only facing charges for lacking proper documentation but are housed with the few population members high-risk charges.
“El Refugio’s webpage has an excerpt that hits home when describing the effects of the present immigration system: ‘detention steals the dignity of immigrants.’ Loss of family, security, legal rights and information regarding their own cases are an experience that accompanies the horrific environment they left in their home country and perilous journey to request asylum they had already faced. This – the SDC – is their welcome.”
After the trip, students shared what they learned and experienced – like seeing immigration from a family perspective, a lens gained through conversations with El Refugio volunteers. Others were able to relate the history of immigration with for-profit detention centers, contemplating the impact of these centers on communities economically and socio-demographically.
Students learned about human rights abuses that can, and do, happen during detention, such as forced labor. The irony here is that many individuals enter the United States with economic interests of working hard and earning a fair wage for their families, but are then sent to detention centers where they are paid a couple of dollars for work they are doing.
On top of informative talks, students found ways to stay connected with El Refugio by writing letters or volunteering with the guest house or agency.
This experiential learning trip helped students gain detailed knowledge about the impacts of immigration detention and deportation they may not have otherwise had. The partnership between the UGA School of Social Work and El Refugio is invaluable, and it is my hope that it will continue to grow and ensure trips annually for students. It is also my hope that the UGA Service-Learning Program will consider future applications for funding trips like these with the SL Grant.
I would like to extend a huge “Thank You” to the UGA School of Social Work’s Dean, Dr. Phillip Hong, for largely funding the trip. Another thanks goes out to the University of Georgia Women’s Club, which put up the rest of the funds for the trip. Your generosity informed two-dozen students about current issues, inspiring them to make a difference.
In addition to funding, many thank yous go to: Patti Ghezzi, PJ Edwards, Marylin McGinnis, Holly Patrick with El Refugio; George Harrison Shu and Shelby Lopez, students at the UGA School of Social Work; Dr. Jane McPherson, Dr. Jenay Beer, and Christina Autry with the UGA School of Social Work; and Gayle Noblet with the University Women’s Club.
It takes a village, and this was mine in making this trip a reality!
Not only did the trip impact students, but it also impacted the lives of people being detained and their families. Part of the trip’s cost also included a small honorarium for El Refugio’s time, space, facilitation, and educational instruction during both visits. These funds allow the agency to continue their various programs.
The visits help keep agencies serving immigrant families alive, allow help to enter through the guest house doors, keep students connected and further serve a community that sees numbers of victims at the hands of a for-profit detention center.
It is my hope that this trip continues, and the School of Social Work focuses educational opportunities on immigration. As students experience this trip, see the center’s conditions, and speak with volunteers and the people being incarcerated, it creates the memories needed to fuel the consistent and ongoing change that is the mission of our work. •
Link to Shelby’s podcast, Solo Eramos Ninos: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solo%C3%A9ramos-ni%C3%B1os/id1663686890
Link to El Refugio: https://elrefugiostewart.org/
El Refugio supporters protest outside the Stewart Detention Center. Photo retreived from
El Refugio supporters protest outside the Stewart Detention Center. Photo retreived from
El Refugio supporters protest outside the Stewart Detention Center. Photo retreived from
