Legislators speak to La Posada refugees
Legislators speak to La Posada refugees
This article was originally published in the Brownsville Herald on April 8, 2016.
SAN BENITO — The members of Congress touring South Texas were full of questions for the young African refugees standing in front of them.
“What were the causes that you left your home country?” said U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D- Georgia.
He and 11 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus stopped Friday at La Posada Providencia, which houses refugees fleeing danger in their home countries.
Johnson said U.S. Rep Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, invited the congressmen to his district to learn about health care and other issues.
At La Posada, they sat at a round table while women from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia stood before them and told their stories of danger and survival.
The woman addressed by Johnson explained the reasons why she and her husband fled East Africa.
“My husband was in prison for 21 days because of his political party,” answered the slender woman, her voice and gestures conveying grief and strength. Like the other women’s husbands, hers was in detention in another part of the country.
Sister Zita Telkamp, program director of La Posada, told the legislators that when a family crosses the border, there are no facilities to accommodate women and/or children. Authorities call Sister Zita about accommodating them, and the husbands are shipped off to detention.
There recently had been a large influx of refugees.
“I am from Eritrea,” Almas said as she addressed the group.
“How long have you been here?” said U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio.
“One month,” Almas said. “I came here with my husband, and he’s in detention in Washington, D.C.”
One legislator asked how they make the trip from Africa to the U.S. The women’s English wasn’t good enough for them to explain. However, Jose Rodriguez, a former refugee and resident who now works at the facility, explained they first travel to South America and then journey north through Central America before crossing the border into the United States.
“That really is an Underground Railroad,” Beatty said.
“An international one,” said U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke, D-New York.
A more complete version of this story is available on www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com.