Last Tuesday, the Philosophy Department hosted the second portion of the two-part Trump presentations. “Trump II: Voices of the Valley” took place in the Education Complex on the Edinburg campus and was presented by members of four organizations.
“The first one … was more scholarly. It was from UTRGV professors who are writing in this subject,” said Mariana Alessandri, an assistant professor in the Philosophy Department. “For the second panel, we wanted to bring in the community. … What I wanted to do, especially through the Philosophy Department, is to bring people who are working on the ground, in the community and are dealing with issues of immigration every day.”
Alessandri opened the panel by asking the representatives of four organizations, “How have [President Donald] Trump’s policies on immigration affected people in the [Rio Grande Valley], and also what has the response been from people in the RGV?”
“I’ve been at [La Unión del Pueblo Entero] for almost eight years now, and over this period of time, I’ve been able to see the changes in policy related to the border [from previous administrations], and now for Trump’s administration,” said John Michael Torres, a communication coordinator for LUPE.
Torres said LUPE fights for the dignity of the immigrants.
“We are doing the hard, intense work that it takes to challenge that deeply [unjust] system, because we believe that every person has dignity,” he said. “We believe that we should have systems that reflect the humanity of each individual.”
He talked about how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity has been expanding since Trump’s administration arrived. Torres said that ICE “rather than looking in the big reasons why somebody might be able to stay and fight their case, they started looking at all the reasons that they could try and get somebody out of the country as quickly as possible.”
The LUPE official concluded his presentation by emphasizing how new U.S. Border Patrol practices have affected and separated families. He said the Border Patrol is “pushing the limits” to see how far they can get in this new administration.
“We are also seeing Border Patrol trying to … test out the waters of where they can do additional types of enforcement activity,” Torres said.
Julieta Paredes, a community and youth organizer volunteer for LUPE, described how Trump’s administration has brought her fears back.
“I have felt comfortable knowing that I’m undocumented … but, policies that are very anti-migrant, like [Senate Bill 4], the border militarization, and the wall, makes people like me that have managed to overcome that fear set back a little bit,” Paredes said. “When I hear that people vote for presidents like Trump, it makes me realize … there’s so much hate [and] anti-migrant mentality.”
Lizeth Castillo, managing editor of Neta, a bilingual multimedia platform based in the Valley that “amplifies the voices of border residents aimed to challenge mainstream narratives” about the region, said the immigration issues date to previous administrations.
“I think about … how successful Trump’s administration … [has been] distorting the image that we have of immigrant communities and migrants and refugees,” Castillo said.
She focused on how children are being separated from their parents due to new law enforcements and referred to a report of 700 kids who have been separated from their parents in the last year.
Then, Castillo spoke about some misconceptions that people have about immigrants, such as labeling them as “criminals,” and how the media distort news about them.
“Sometimes, it turns out that out of those 200 people that [ICE] detained, it’s like three or four … who have committed actual crimes,” she said.
Castillo said many immigrants are now speaking up and fighting for their families as part of the response toward the Trump administration policies.
The final speaker was Sister Norma Pimentel from the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, who is a nationally known representative of the immigrant community. She considers the Valley community as being active on the border wall conversation.
“The Rio Grande Valley is responding with care and compassion,” Pimentel said.
She believes the Valley has responded because they’re a “community of immigrants.”
Pimentel also said her organization has helped over 9,000 immigrants and will continue to do so.
She carried the conversation on immigration by mainly focusing on children and during her presentation, she said she had dealt with DACA recipients.
“It’s unfortunate that we mess with the life of people that are extraordinary, like DACA students,” Pimentel said.
She said the community must look at immigrants as humans and not criminalize them.
“I think that it’s important to always remember that they’re human people, it’s a human aspect of … immigration [that] we must never overlook,” Pimentel said. “… It’s about life and we must protect and defend life.”
Over 80 students attended the presentation and asked the presenters how their organizations work.
“Where do you get the funds?” nursing freshman Andy Gonzales asked.
“The donations,” Pimentel replied. “By just people bringing us the money or the items.”
Gonzales, like other students, have benefited from the talks about new upcoming policies and how these affect the Valley.
“I [know] people [who] are undocumented and they don’t know anything, and now, I could just inform them about these groups that are out there,” she said.
