Immigrant Safety and Trust
The word of the day was safety—what does it take to keep our families safe?
Most American families teach their children that the “police are their friend” and even my neighbor’s five year old knows to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency. That was why I was surprised when I discovered it was not so simple for an immigrant. Reaching out for authority figures especially those in uniform is more complicated when you are an immigrant from a far away country or a refugee from a war-torn country.
Here are three different perspectives on the challenges facing immigrant families trusting law enforcement. I talked with PIN sources, Rodney, a block captain in South City and Lisa, a St. Louis educator, plus Dwan Speed a St. Louis city police officer. You might be enlightened by what you hear.
Category: Immigration 101
Wow, I didn’t know that! If this is true, there definitely should be more helpful resources for immigrants…
As far as I have seen there are a few types of immigrants. Usually the focus has covered the issue of illegal immigration and angry and rage occurs for the wrong reasons. I am a college student. I have friends who are immigrants that study here on visas. Universities, Wash U, SLU, etc, have many foreign students and each year that trend is increasing. I know SLU highly values their foreign population and the students can now call Saint Louis home. These students receive help from the University through programs that ensure these students are successful. Students should not feel threatened because they have that support and a community at their college. They can seek help if a problem occurs because the universities have people in positions to help. That is not the same for many immigrants who come and may not speak English. There are programs out there to help but since there is no formal arrangement of living or working, but laying low and working with friends of their community, they cannot actively seek out people. If an immigrant before you is illegal and works illegally, which is a crime, and that is all people know, then those types of actions will only increase and continue. An understanding of what needs to be done to live in Saint Louis is not there for them. Plus a person may feel unsafe to reach out and ask for help from an authority figure.
It was a surprise to me too but it makes sense when I think about some of the countries they come from. Thanks for the comment.
As an immigrant from Brasil I still remember the feeling of “of not belonging” when I first came to this country, I remember a Ms. Glenn at Glenbard South H.S, she made me feel welcome to this country and to this day I remember that early experience. I remember when I first arrived here, thinking that the school P.A system was how they taught classes in middle school…..I was trying to take notes on the announcements. Having someone of trust helping someone new to any environment makes a huge difference.