I am a family physician in Buffalo, NY where I work at a federally qualified community health center called Jericho Road. One of the things we do is run a homeless shelter for asylum seekers from all over the world who are passing through Buffalo on their way to Canada or trying to stay in the USA. For years we have provided shelter, food, legal advice and medical care to thousands of people and are usually at max capacity (roughly 120 beds) with a long waitlist. We provide this service at a great cost to our organization because we believe this is how we are to love our neighbor.
Recently, 100 Congolese asylum seekers, mostly families, arrived suddenly at our center and almost overwhelmed our capacity to help. They had been released from a detention center in San Antonio, TX and were part of a larger group of African migrants who have been detained at the southern border for months. These Congolese migrants have had a long and arduous journey from their home to Buffalo. Most flew to Brazil and then traveled on foot and by bus all the way from Brazil to Texas, a journey that was over 2500 miles through jungles, deserts, across rivers and at great personal hardship. It was a dangerous journey. Some families were separated along the way and some people died. This journey took 3-9 months. These desperate people, who are fleeing untenable situations in their home country, definitely have paid a steep price to finally get to Buffalo.
Today in the office I saw a young man who recently made this journey to Buffalo. He is 31 years old and grew up in Eritrea. There he was part of a persecuted ethnic minority and ended up in prison due to his political activism. He finally fled to Ethiopia and started a long journey that took him to South Sudan, Egypt, Israel and finally to Brazil. He then made the long journey from Brazil to our southern border and when he crossed the border in August of 2018 he was immediately arrested and put in a detention center where he was held for nine months under conditions that he says were almost as bad as his experience in an Eritrean jail cell. Finally, a few months ago, his case was heard by a judge and he was awarded asylum status and was released from custody. Now he has a chance to begin the pathway to citizenship in this country and begin a new life here.
In our not-so-distant past, we all read the disturbing reports of how young children were being treated in some of the overcrowded, understaffed detention centers in Texas. Children going hungry, toddlers going hours without a clean diaper and going days without a bath or access to soap or toothbrushes. We read about rooms so crowded that people barely have room to lie down to rest. These shocking and disturbing reports suggest a callous disregard for the basic humanity of these migrants, our neighbors.
But at Jericho Road, and in Buffalo, we have chosen a different way. We have decided to welcome these newcomers, care for them, and provide hope. And as the Buffalo community has heard of this need they have stepped up by volunteering at our center, dropping off food, sending diapers and other basic items and by donating millions of dollars.
One woman sent us a $10 check with a note saying to “provide food for the Congolese refugees”. Another wrote “Please put this donation towards helping the refugees. America needs more centers like yours.” So many Buffalonians have told us that they appreciate what we are doing and that it is the right thing to do. This overwhelmingly positive response to a humanitarian crisis gives me hope that the American people still have a sense of basic decency and a desire to do well by their neighbors who are in need, despite the hurtful rhetoric and mean-spirited decisions that our nation’s leaders are making at this time, and likely to continue making in the near future. The callous way that people are being treated at our southern border is inhumane and unnecessary and is a shameful blot on the character of this great nation. We must and can do better.
-Myron Glick MD, Founder and CEO of Jericho Road Community Health Center
