海角大神

Clayton Collins: That鈥檚 the Monitor鈥檚 Sarah Matusek.听

Sarah, who鈥檚 based in Denver, is certainly not the only Monitor reporter paying attention to immigration. It鈥檚 a big Washington Bureau story, too, as a major issue in the presidential campaigns. Her beat is the Mountain West. So Sarah writes on regional issues like water and wolves. But more and more of her weekly advisories, the look ahead notes that Monitor writers post for their colleagues to see, show her writing or contributing to many stories with immigration at their core. That鈥檚 by design.听聽

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Collins: This is 鈥淲hy We Wrote This.鈥� I鈥檓 Clay Collins. Sarah was last on this podcast a year ago to talk about reporting from Lahaina on Maui after the devastating fires there. She joins me again today. Hey, Sarah.

Matusek: Hi, Clay. Thanks for having me.

Collins: So you鈥檝e got a fast growing body of work around immigrants and refugees. You wrote a very affecting cover story, with vignettes exploring individual lives. You wrote an explainer that got into details of deportation. And you鈥檝e been writing about refugee sponsorship and a migrant work prep program. I want to talk about all of that, and about how you maintain fairness on such a politically charged subject. But First, let me ask you about something you clearly take pains to do, and that鈥檚 keeping humanity at the fore. In a story that sometimes sets up in cold demographic or policy terms, a numbers story, you鈥檙e really writing about lives.

Matusek: Hmm. It may seem obvious, Clay, but it鈥檚 become so important for me to recognize that an immigrant story starts long before they reach the United States. They鈥檙e an individual, just like any American, who has a really rich interior life, of hopes and fears and hard decisions. I鈥檓 thinking of an Afghan dad I met in Pennsylvania this year. Growing up, he had started to try to learn English on his own, trying to read foreign words on scraps of newspaper he鈥檇 find in imported mango crates. And now, he and his wife and two super cute daughters are in the U.S. on what鈥檚 called a special immigrant visa, having fled the Taliban. And now, he鈥檚 in the position of watching his young daughter learn English, formally, in school. And at the same time, he鈥檚 also watching her lose her native language, Dari. So their family has gained a lot by coming to the U.S., most of all safety, right?聽 It鈥檚 also undeniable that they鈥檝e left behind a life, too.听聽

In immigration, there are so many narratives of intractability, right? Everyone agrees, both on the right and the left, that our immigration system is broken, has been for years. There are also narratives of scarcity and limits around solutions to fixing this system. And so I鈥檝e come to realize it鈥檚 so important to treat my sources with the opposite mindset. And that means not thinking of my sources in limited terms, but actually having something to contribute beyond just my story. And so when I resist that framing of lack, I鈥檝e actually found expressions of bounty, of generosity. Whether that鈥檚 a Sudanese refugee in Alabama offering me homemade cake and orange juice in her living room, or a Venezuelan asylum seeker in Utah who insisted, he really insisted, that he share with me cookies that he had just been given at a food bank.听

It鈥檚 also our job to present the humanity of not just our immigrant sources, of course, but really any stakeholder in this immigration debate. I recently spoke with a rancher who lives along the Arizona Mexico border. He has cameras all along his property that track movements at night of people crossing the border illegally and coming over his property, what the government would call 鈥済otaways.鈥� And it鈥檚 been really tough for him to watch over the past three decades. He says there has been 35 people to die on his ranch. But I came to realize that this gentleman is also friends with a liberal immigration activist who I鈥檇 also interviewed. She goes out regularly into the Arizona desert borderland, leaving water for people who may find themselves stuck there as they cross these counties. And I learned that not only was she friends with this conservative rancher but that this rancher also leaves water out on his property for anyone, including migrants who may need it in the brutal Arizona heat. And so even though at first glance, these two individuals may seem to come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, they actually both share the same goal. No more deaths in the desert.听聽

Collins: I鈥檓 wondering, hearing about the Afghan anecdote you just told, how do you establish trust with migrants you interview, especially people who might originate in places where having an elevated public profile might not be prudent?聽聽

Matusek: I can鈥檛 assume that people understand what my job as a journalist is. I鈥檓 often in the position of having to explain what on versus off the record means, what the Monitor is as a news publication. And that certainly is part of the work in building trust with sources like immigrants who may not have a full lawful status here. I鈥檝e had to be pretty clear about what my role is and what it鈥檚 not. I had an asylum seeker source once text me over WhatsApp whether he should settle in Denver or New York. And that鈥檚 not a question that I can answer for him.听聽

I鈥檝e also found it useful to ask for feedback, to try to raise my own self awareness around you know, potential insensitivities. And so, the Monitor has generously afforded me and other reporters access to interpreters and translators to deepen our reporting. Just as an example, one interpreter who helped me speak with asylum seekers from Mauritania and Senegal here in Colorado helped me understand and manage my own expectations around eye contact, right? I was told that if these gentlemen didn鈥檛 look me directly in the eye, to not take it other than something that they were just used to as a custom where they came from. And that鈥檚 an example of a key insight that informed my interactions with them.

Collins: There鈥檚 some real zero-sum thinking going on in some quarters when it comes to migration, you know, that even legal immigrants get their footing at the expense of native born Americans. Uh, the counter of course is that the U.S. was built by immigrants. But I鈥檓 wondering how do you integrate what can sometimes be fairly virulent anti immigration views in your reporting without actually feeding that fear narrative?

Matusek: It is true that we鈥檝e seen record numbers of illegal immigration. The Biden administration has seen over 7 million encounters with Border Patrol along the Southern border. And that鈥檚 more than triple the amount that Trump saw during his time in office. At the same time, those numbers alone don鈥檛 reflect the number of people who enter and stay in the U.S., and what share can establish a legal basis to stay even temporarily here.听

Another basic concept to understand: it鈥檚 illegal for an immigrant to enter the country between our official ports of entry. It鈥檚 also true that immigrants may apply for protections like asylum, even if they entered the country illegally. One part of the country likes to focus on the act of illegal entry and won鈥檛 easily acknowledge asylum, another part of the country focuses on the right to seek asylum, but won鈥檛 easily acknowledge that crossing the border into the U. S. is still a crime.听

I recently spoke with a Colombian couple. They鈥檙e now here living in Denver. They鈥檝e applied for asylum. And on their journey to northern Mexico, they said that they had the intent to do what the U.S. government is requesting of migrants like them, which is to present themselves at official ports of entry, lawfully. While they were trying to go through this route of scheduling an appointment, they were kidnapped in Mexico, thrown into a van with other migrants, told not to talk, and they were ultimately thrown into the Rio Grande River just south of Eagle Pass, Texas.听 The woman was pregnant, and the couple also had a three year old. They didn鈥檛 know how to swim. They barely made it to the other side of the river, they told me, as American authorities looked on. They鈥檙e safe now in Denver, but they say that their son was so traumatized by the incident that now, here in Colorado, he won鈥檛 get in the water at the pool. So on paper, yes, they are unauthorized immigrants. They are also asylum seekers because they鈥檙e applying for asylum. And even though it was their intention to come the quote unquote right way, their agency was taken away from them. So hopefully that鈥檚 just one example for our readers about how some of this binary thinking about open versus closed borders, legal versus illegal, gets pretty complicated when you listen to people鈥檚 stories.听

Collins: Security is certainly a shared concern, ideally across the political spectrum and, you know, human trafficking, cartel violence, these things are real and documented, but as you say, they鈥檙e not the whole story.听聽

惭补迟耻蝉别办:听That's true, and even if the majority of immigrants arriving are coming purely to better their family situation, including people with legitimate asylum claims, it is important to recognize credible threats to public safety.

So I live in Denver, and along with the city just east of us, Aurora, officials have alleged the presence of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua, or TDA. There's been some conflicting information about how much of a draw Denver, which has helped a lot of migrants, has been to this group, but officials say they do believe that people affiliated with the group have been involved in crimes.

So, some context might be helpful here: the Biden administration designated that gang as a transnational criminal organization in July. That's a big deal. It's also a big deal that federal authorities have confirmed alleged affiliates of TDA have come up through the southern border.

Back to where I live in Denver. The Rocky Mountain Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA, has confirmed to me that the agency has seized fentanyl destined for the Denver metro area from individuals believed to be linked to TDA. That's also concerning, as overdose deaths involving fentanyl are rising in Colorado.

Collins: So you鈥檙e Denver-based, as you said. And that鈥檚 a city that鈥檚 become more of a migrant magnet in recent years. How much does living in Denver day to day inform your perspective on this story?聽

Matusek: It鈥檚 a fascinating case study around how federal decisions have local consequences. Since late 2022, Denver has tracked the arrival of more than 42,000 migrants, though not all of those individuals have stayed in the metro area, much less the state. The city has offered short term shelter to some, others have asked for travel tickets elsewhere, where they may have friends or family connections outside of Colorado. All told, the city鈥檚 migrant response has cost some $74 million. There are a lot of people in the state who are pushing back against that price tag, right? And that allocation of resources towards people who may be ultimately deported from the United States. Of course, the city also has pre existing challenges like affordable housing and homelessness for our own domestic population that residents would like to see better addressed.听

It鈥檚 been so interesting to watch Denver pivot, especially within the past few months, because the city is no longer offering several days or weeks worth of shelter to new arriving migrants. And we鈥檙e only getting, like one migrant a day arriving now, as opposed to dozens or even hundreds as we saw last year. And instead, they鈥檙e prioritizing a few hundred migrants who arrived in past months and who are applying for asylum. To focus their resources on them, including help with temporary housing. And one of those programs is called Work Ready, that I鈥檝e just started to report on. If you apply for asylum, which you can only do within the United States, you have to wait at least six months from the date of your filing that application before you can receive a work permit. It鈥檚 been interesting to see how the city is now investing in English classes, even computer classes, to help give these聽 asylum seekers a leg up for the day when they can work with work authorization. The city is also frustrated that there鈥檚 been federal inaction on the issue of work permits, because there are dozens of companies here, the city says, that has wanted to hire these migrants, but it鈥檚 not the state or city鈥檚 ability to issue work permits. That鈥檚 the role of the federal government.听聽

Honestly, I don鈥檛 think that the heart of the immigration debate is about Americans not wanting more immigrants wholesale. I see the issue more about the rate of change, and how immigrants enter, and who deserves to stay. Throughout American history, immigration has always ebbed and flowed. I鈥檓 actually currently reading a book about how Abraham Lincoln thought about immigration. It鈥檚 fascinating to see the same arguments pre Civil War around immigration play out now. And in fact, I just read a passage about how Lincoln condemned an anti-Irish riot in Philadelphia in the 1840s. So being able to have some historical context has really helped kind of mellow my thought as I move forward.听

Collins: Hmm. Thank you so much for all of your work on this important story and for coming back to talk about it.听

Matusek: Thanks so much, Clay. Always a pleasure.听

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Collins: And thank you to our listeners. You can find more, including our show notes with links to the stories that we discussed, and to all of Sarah鈥檚. Work at csmonitor.com/WhyWeWroteThis. This episode was hosted by me, Clay Collins, and produced by Jingnan Peng. Mackenzie Farkus is also a producer on this show. Our sound engineers were Noel Flatt and Alyssa Britton. Noel also composed our original music. Produced by 海角大神. Copyright 2024.