IRTF News

@austinkocher

Austin Kocher shares this two-part interview with Antero Garcia at La Cuenta. 

“When Antero first contacted me, I assumed we would focus on immigration data. But Antero, a Stanford professor and skilled interviewer, led the conversation through the thicket of my academic background and personal experiences to tell the story not only of what I do but why I do it. We discuss how my training as a geographer continues to shape my thinking, how my military service influenced my research on immigration enforcement, and why I believe—perhaps deeper than I believe anything—that working class Americans and immigrants need to see each other as allies, not adversaries, in the struggle for economic justice.

I am grateful to Antero and La Cuenta for generously publishing both parts of the thorough interview this week. I invite you to read both parts at the links below, then to explore La Cuenta’s many other moving stories. La Cuenta’s goal is to offer individual stories and perspectives about the costs of undocumented living in the U.S., primarily from the perspective of current and formerly undocumented individuals as well as members of mixed-status families.”

On June 24, IRTF convened more than 100 people from Islamic, Christian and Jewish faith traditions for an interfaith prayer in support and defense and migrants, hosted by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

After the morning prayer service, another organization, Network (a Catholic social justice advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, which has some Clevelanders on staff), organized a prayer vigil walk. Many of us from the IRTF prayer vigil joined the walk. At the Carl B Stokes Federal Courthouse (where the only immigration court in the state of Ohio is housed), we encountered a young woman crying. A few moments before ICE apprehended her husband as they exited a courtroom up on the 13th floor. The ICE agents told her “he’ll call you in about an hour.”  IRTF staff spent 20 minutes with her, consoling her, giving her resources and our mobile phone numbers.

Under President Bukele, basic freedoms have disappeared. Civil society is under siege, and the government is arresting those who speak out to silence them. The team at the human rights organization Cristosal has endured harassment, surveillance, and defamation. So Cristosal, which was founded by Anglican bishops 25 years ago and came to prominence for its investigations into corruption in the Bukele government, has made the difficult decision to relocate nearly 20 staff to Guatemala and a few others to Honduras. It has been forced to suspend operations inside the country.  

supportcristosal@cristosal.org

PO Box 4424 Burlington VT, 05406

Colombia hosted the first ever “Emergency Conference” on Gaza, bringing together more than 30 countries that pledged to move beyond condemnation toward coordinated legal action to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Over the course of two days, diplomats, activists, Palestinian organizations, and human rights lawyers participated in rallies, public symposiums, and closed door meetings to debate next steps forward. While the agreements reached were limited in scope, they marked an unprecedented show of international resolve.

The conference ended with several countries, including Colombia, signing a 6-point join action plan that includes blocks of weapons transfers to Israel and other diplomatic, legal, and economic measures aimed at stopping Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people and defending international law.

On Saturday, May 3, I flew to southern Arizona where I stayed for two and a half weeks for a border witness delegation. While hiking in the desert doing water drops, we always found clothing, shoes, and jackets left behind by migrants who had passed before us. There were also many black water bottles—used because they’re harder for Border Patrol to spot in the dark. Holding a black bottle and thinking about which hands had held it before was very powerful for me.

The whole trip to the borderlands was deeply meaningful to me. It gave me a much deeper understanding of the situation at the US-Mexico border and a deeper emotional sense of what migration means, not only at this border but at all borders. Seeing the vastness and dangers of the desert, walking on the same paths as people trying to migrate—this was very different from reading articles or looking at photos.

What I experienced brought me closer to IRTF—our  work and our mission.

Please consider donating to IRTF to make meaningful experiences like this possible for future volunteer staff associates.