Most Americans know someone who has received inhumane treatment at the hand of our country’s complex immigration system. Every day, while people face unimaginable life situations that drive them to leave their homelands, the immigration legal system in the United States fails to provide hope or help.
More often than not, the immigration system is just one more challenge people must overcome in pursuit of survival. On top of the complexity and challenge inherent in the laws themselves, there are many different governing and regulatory bodies involved in making and carrying out the laws. All too often, the people in positions to make decisions about immigrants’ fates are molded and shaped by the worst of the system’s brokenness. In such a bureaucracy, where immigrants are not seen for the human beings they are, law enforcers become apathetic, or even cruel.
This is the experience of ‘Z’ (name changed to protect his identity), during one of the darkest times of his life.
Before April 16, 2022, ‘Z’ was navigating the immigrant journey as best as he could. He maintained a home in his native Mexico and worked as an independent consultant in graphic design and other media services. Around three years ago, he met a person while on vacation. Their relationship grew, and the two became partners. He split his time between his home in Mexico and his partner home, traveling on a visa that allowed them to be together for some amount of time in The United States, though they also spent long stretches of time apart.
They were in the process of determining how they should move forward in building their lives together –they were considering marriage and exploring the immigration pathways that would allow them to finally establish a permanent shared home in the United States.
The first challenge confronted by the couple occurred in late January of 2022, when it became clear that he had misunderstood the limitations of his visa. He was returning from a trip to Mexico on an active visa that was approved through 2029, when he was detained at the airport in Houston. He was told by immigration officials that he had exceeded the amount of time he could spend in the United States within a certain period –a limitation he had never been aware of before. After ten hours in detention at the airport explaining his misunderstanding, he was granted one month in the United States to get his affairs in order. He was instructed to return to Mexico by the end of that allotted month, and not to attempt to return to the United States until the fall of 2022. He dutifully and respectfully followed every instruction he was given and returned to Mexico at the end of February.
In March, his boyfriend visited him in Mexico. The two began making plans to navigate this unexpected curve in their path. He applied to go back to school in Mexico for a postsecondary program, to be better prepared for eventual future opportunities in the United States. When his partner left Mexico at the end of their time together, both were full of hope for the future, despite the challenges they faced. Then, in one fateful moment, tragedy struck – and his life was turned upside down. His future was taken from him.
His partner was assaulted in Philadelphia, a week later died in the hospital from his injuries. The aggressor was eventually charged with third degree murder and is awaiting trial.
‘Z’ was under strict orders not to return from Mexico. While his partner was in critical condition at the hospital, he could not be by his side. When his loved one succumbed, his death was deemed a crime –his funeral services would not take place immediately. This provided a short window of opportunity for him to seek authorization to return. Not knowing where to else turn to ask for a humanitarian exception and be able to attend his partner’s funeral. Esperanza contacted US Senator Bob Casey’s office on his behalf. Members of Esperanza’s team also contacted the Mexican consulate in Philadelphia to seek advice.
After several weeks of urgent calls and emails, all attempts to pursue a solution were met with dead ends. Staff members from Senator Casey’s office contacted the US consulate in Mexico, reaching the central inbox in Matamoros for all visa-related questions. There, they were told ‘Z’ should contact the general US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) help line. This message was relayed to Esperanza’s team. A staff member from Esperanza visited the US CBP website, and upon finding only generic information, called the 800-number as advised.
The representative from US CBP informed Esperanza’s staffer that immigration officers at a port of entry to the United States would have to approve the humanitarian exemption –although, it was noted, ‘Z’ would have to arrive in person at the port of entry in order to request that exemption. He might spend valuable time and money, with the hope of mourning his lost loved one, and still be refused entry –or worse, face a penalty for attempting reentry to the United States against previous instructions.
Esperanza’s staffer called the Customs and Border Patrol port of entry office at the Philadelphia airport (where his partner had most recently lived) and followed automated prompts to reach the voicemail of the office’s director. The message never received any response; the call was never returned. The staffer then called the Customs and Border Patrol port of entry office at Boston Logan airport, nearby the funeral venue. The officer who answered the call was entirely hostile and aggressive, repeatedly interrupting Esperanza’s staffer to question the truth of the story, to accuse Esperanza and ‘Z’ of potentially illegal acts, and to imply that he was trying to return so he could overstay his visa and remain in the United States illegally.
Finally, the officer stated that the US Department of State should be contacted about a humanitarian exemption. He also reiterated what the general CPB help desk had stated –that if he wanted to take his chances, he could show up at a port of entry and explain his situation. It would “just depend on who’s on duty that day, if they believe him or not.” This officer clearly did not know that his death had been widely covered in the media and had been addressed publicly by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. He did not know that dozens of people could validate their years-long relationship and his conscientious diligence to abide by US immigration law. And he, like most government officials in this case, didn’t bother to find out.
By the time ‘Z’ and Esperanza had been repeatedly passed from one government agency to another, with repeated follow up emails sent to determine what, if anything, was happening to resolve the situation, it was too late.
When Esperanza’s staffer was passed off for the last time, from a rude and unsympathetic immigration officer in Boston to “the State Department” with no specific person to call or process to follow, there were only a few days left until the funeral. The US State Department’s website offers only one way to contact them –through an online web form, with a disclaimer stating that due to the high volume of messages received, not all messages can be reviewed.
‘Z’ remained in Mexico while hundreds of his partner’s friends, family, and loved ones were gathered to grieve together and honor his powerful life of leadership and service, his most beloved partner was not there. He has yet to collect his own belongings from the house in Philadelphia. All because the offices of the US Consulate in Mexico, US Customs and Border Patrol at two US points of entry, and the US State Department did nothing –and even the US Senator’s office for Pennsylvania could not pave the way for ‘Z’, who has also suffered an even greater tragedy than the loss of his cherished partner and his plans. The US government failed him at all levels. Everyone who had the authority and the power to do something passed the buck. This is just one example of how inhumane the United States immigration system can be. And just like the loss of great life and legacy, this must be remembered –in the hope that one day, our government can see the loss of its own humanity and take steps to ensure tragedies are not compounded by indifference, laziness, mistrust, and lack of compassion. Not just for ‘Z’ – we all deserve better than this.
