In late 2019 and early 2020, the Trump administration’s actions were pushing migrant people in the US/Mexico borderlands into dangerous environments, while at the same time undercutting programs in the Northern Triangle that effectively address root causes of migration.

Covid-19 has all but reset our public memory. For many Americans, asylum-related topics like Remain in Mexico, zero tolerance, family separations, and safe third-country agreements have faded from our thoughts. The next two episodes provide an opportunity to revisit and remember some of those policies by hearing from people who were experiencing their outworking on the ground pre-pandemic. Their insights speak to the mentality of an administration that has continued aggressively reducing immigration across the board during the pandemic, especially for forcibly displaced people. We start by hearing from two people in Honduras. Señora Malvia runs a shoe store in Tegucigalpa and spends her time and energy caring for the families of migrant people. Alexander is a coffee farmer who made the journey north in hopes of being able to provide for his wife and kids.

Before diving into two episodes focused on Central America and asylum issues, Jacob pauses briefly to review his connection to refugee issues. He invites new listeners into his journey of learning to look for the image of God in various groups of immigrants—asylum seekers, refugees, and economic migrants.

This episode is part two of two in a sequence where we consider the significance of the Refugee Act of 1980 (signed in to law 40 years ago) through the eyes of one of its beneficiaries, 26-year-old Trang Tran. In the last episode we learned the basic shape of her grandfather’s story and reviewed the history, conflict, and global migration trends that allowed him and his family to resettle to a Chicago suburb in the early 1990s. Now we’ll back up the timeline and zoom in to understand how Trang’s family navigated the challenges and opportunities presented by resettlement.

Trang Tran and her family were resettled under the auspices of the Refugee Act of 1980 by an organization called World Relief. Hailing from Vietnam, the family landed in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton when Trang, now 26, was just shy of a year old. In the next two episodes, she talks about the forces—international and interpersonal—that have shaped her sense of identity and home. In episode 17, we start with memories of her Grandpa, then zoom out to consider the socio-political context of her family’s journey.

This is the second half of our conversation with Bethany, a relief worker and missionary who supports migrant people and asylum-seekers in southern Spain. Last episode gave us the regional context and some of the issues displaced people typically face in Spain. Now we hear about how families at the center she and her team run fared in the weeks between March 14 and May 11. 

In part three of our displaced during COVID-19 series, we learn background on the Mediterranean migration routes and meet an American relief worker and missionary named Bethany, who lives in southern Spain. Bethany shares about some of the challenges asylum-seekers and migrant people typically face there. This sets the stage for better understanding the challenges introduced since the pandemic began, which Bethany discusses in the next episode. 

SJ Holsteen from IAFR Jonathan House in St. Paul Minnesota is a residential worker who lives with four women currently seeking asylum. She shares about the importance of safe and stable housing for asylum seekers during COVID-19. 

It's difficult to maintain a spirit of concern for displaced people when our own communities and families are riddled with uncertainty and pain. Yet our own frailty can become a point of empathy for those who have long persevered through isolation, instability, and loss. And empathy can become a springboard for sacrificial action.  

As we prepare in coming months to address asylum issues in Central America and the U.S. Southern border, we pause for a bonus Q and A with author Karen Gonzalez. Her family migrated to the U.S. from Guatemala in the 1980’s. Karen talks about her book, The God Who Sees. She answers more questions about the role of stories in raising awareness, the variety of voices needed for effective advocacy, the nuance of language, and more.