Twin Citians are welcome Wednesday to gain a perspective on "Living in B-N as an Undocumented Immigrant," during a Drinks & Dialogue get-together at 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Uptown Normal.
The discussion will be led by Jasmine McGee, executive director of The Immigrant Project, and Jennifer Carrillo from Illinois People's Action.
After the discussion, all those interested can take the short walk down the street to the Normal Theater at 7 p.m. to view the film Documented. The Immigration Project and its community partners are sponsoring the screening of the film, created by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas about his experience as an undocumented immigrant in the United States. The film tracks his journey from the Phillipines as a child and becoming one of the most well-known immigration reform activists in the U.S., to reconnecting with his mother after more than 20 years.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the Immigration Project, immigrants, and other immigration advocates and experts. This event is free, but donations are requested to support The Immigration Project.
Community partners include the League of Women Voters, Illinois People’s Action, Moses Montefiore Temple, First Presbyterian Church, Mennonite Church, Holy Trinity Church, and St. Mary’s Church.
Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal's Kelley Becker notes that "we are struggling with how to respond to the strangers who are crossing our southern borders, to live in our communities, to work in our businesses and farms, and to learn with our children." Amid current sociopolitical hysteria, she stressed most of the estimated 11.7 million "undocumenteds" in the U.S. are here for economic reasons, and "are not here to harm us."
Becker witnessed ramped-up federal border security/immigration enforcement activity during a tour centered in Tucson, including "Operation Streamline" prosecution and deportation of selected individuals who'd illegally entering the country, including minors who did not wish to be separated from other families. "I would not have believed this was a courtroom in the United States," Becker said, arguing those proceedings divert federal resources away from prosecution of drug smugglers and human traffickers who pose a palpable threat to the U.S.
That experience, as well as inspecting the border areas where Mexicans crossed into the U.S., highlights the need to "legislatively, socially, and ethically" deal with the immigration issue, she maintained. An Arizona host showed Becker objects including a bottle of insulin and a baby shoe discarded by individuals fleeing Mexico.
"We began to think about the people who left these things behind in the desert," she recalled. "We cannot disagree about the value of these human beings."