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Writer's pictureCedar Koons

The Immigrant Next Door

Updated: Nov 12

Details have been changed to hide her identity.





I want to introduce you to my friend, Maria. She lives in my neighborhood in a little house she bought with hard-earned dollars and help from friends. She lives with her daughter, who works the night shift in a nursing home, and her granddaughter, whom Maria cares for at night while her daughter works.

Maria was born in Mexico and grew up in an orphanage. She did not graduate from high school and came to the United States alone in her late teens. She settled in a rural area of New Mexico, working on small farms and learning to make wreaths and decorations from flowers she grew herself. She has struggled to speak English; even today, she does not consider herself fluent.

Maria met and married an American man with whom she had children. Her husband was very controlling and preferred to keep her dependent on him. He refused to help her with her immigration status, so she never got a green card. Then, he began to abuse her physically and emotionally. Maria took her children and left him. He eventually went to prison for violent crimes, where he is today.

Over the years, Maria made many friends in her neighborhood who enjoyed her warm, affectionate personality, hard work, honesty, and generosity. While she couldn't qualify for Social Security or Medicare, her friends helped her find work, paid her to teach them Spanish conversation, employed her to help them with their livestock and gardens, and helped her get emergency medical care. Kind people in the community replaced her roof and got propane heat and indoor plumbing in the house she owned. In return, Maria and her daughter thanked their friends with gifts, food, and love. Maria and her daughter and granddaughter are integral to our community.

Now, Donald J. Trump has been re-elected as president of the United States based in large part on his promises to crack down on immigrants. Trump has promised to initiate "mass deportation" as soon as possible for all undocumented immigrants, no matter how long they have lived in our country. He is planning to send immigration police to homes and workplaces to arrest people like Maria and send them to deportation camps. He has hired high-level officials so they can hit the ground running once he is sworn in.

In deportation camps, people like my neighbor Maria will be treated as criminals and then shipped out of the country with no recourse. Maria, who has lived here for nearly fifty years, will lose her home and the community where she has felt safe, included, and loved. Her daughter and granddaughter will lose their mother and grandmother, a person of immeasurable value in their lives. And this is just one story. There are millions of such stories.

A majority of American voters, concerned about high prices and fears about people "poisoning the blood of our country," have chosen this. Perhaps we still need to realize what they have done. I know that when they come for Maria, many hearts will break, perhaps including the hearts of some Trump supporters.

Others will be watching and wondering if they will be next. Will they come then for trans adults and children and their families, so heavily targeted by Republican campaigns? Will they come for high-profile people who criticized Trump or tried to hold him accountable for his crimes?

Part of mindfulness practice is seeing the world as it is. Mindful people don't "make nice" in the face of cruelty or hide behind denial and minimization. When we see the world as it is, we acknowledge the suffering and feel compassion for those being harmed. Right now, all of us are trying to comprehend that this is happening. We have no idea what we can do to resist the forces of cruelty that are massing in the name of "immigration enforcement." Step one is to see what is happening in your community and talk about it. That is where we can start, and even that will be challenging.


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