LESSONS IN SOLIDARITY FROM THE "LITTLE ONES" DETAINED IN DEPORTATION CAMPS!
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones" (Mt. 11:25-30).
From my youth, this has been one of my favorite readings. The thing that strikes me most about this reading is how, to the “little ones,” a wisdom has been revealed that the powerful cannot seem to grasp. For me, the “little ones” refer to those without power. I say this not to belittle, demean, or to infantilize them, or romanticize their situation, but to recognize that in that position of vulnerability, they can grasp things and understand things that those of us who are in a position of power or privilege just can't comprehend.
In my work, advocating for migrants, among the “littlest” ones are those stripped of their liberty by our governments for the offense of asking for protection-seeking asylum! And these littlest ones have given my students and me the most amazing examples of solidarity and comradeship that I see time and time again amongst the migrants and refugees warehoused in for-profit detention camps. I'm always amazed at the friendships that are forged between people from completely different languages, cultures, religions, and ways of life-People that aren't even supposed to get along with each other, or maybe even be afraid of each other.
I think of the gay or transgender person having the courage to be out in a hostile environment, and finding solidarity among some of the other detainees. I think of the inmates overcoming language barriers to help each other contact family members, find legal representation, and fill out applications. Even more amazing are the detainees who have organized themselves to conduct legal research and share it with others. They have built a cottage industry of pro-se legal writing, turning out briefs and motions that are getting people relief from detention through the Federal Courts when they can’t find justice from the “Deportation Judges” of the Department of Justice. I think of the detainees who get released, and then pay bonds for other detainees, or find shelter for them. I think especially of those looking out for others when their own situation seems beyond saving; those who, after they are exiled by deportation, reach out to inquire of the welfare of their old friend from Stewart, or Northlake, or Adelanto…names that I reckon will be infamous in due time, as they deserve to be.
And when contemplating the plight of the little ones everywhere, crushed underfoot of the mighty, what a contradiction, it seems, to consider the last part of the reading: The yoke does not seem easy, nor the burden light, but surely the rest shall come, if not in this world, then the next.
Author: Alex Vernon is an immigration lawyer and educator striving to integrate pedagogy, practice, and service in the field of human migration law. Above all, before the Lord, he is a sojourner in this world, as are we all. "The Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord" (1 Chronicles 29:15).
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