Road to respect for immigrants runs through Tacoma

Here’s a story that might make you feel great about America again — a story about ordinary citizens in Tacoma living out values of compassion and human respect against the backdrop of the nation’s ugly debate over immigration.

The story begins with Maria, a frail, 60-year-old grandmother from Mexico who, alone and frightened, emerged one afternoon in August from the Northwest Detention Center on the Tacoma Tideflats.

That day Maria held all her earthly possessions in two plastic bags. She knew no English. She had no phone. No idea where Tacoma is. No idea who would meet her, or how she would be reunited, as she hoped, with her loved ones already in the country.

Let me share the rest of the story, edited for brevity, from a heartwarming email I and others received from Bob and Margaret, a retired North End couple and fellow congregants at my church in Tacoma.

They participate in a church initiative called Jericho Road. They were waiting to greet Maria when she was released.

“Tuesday night we hosted a grandmother in fragile health as a special request from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project out of Seattle,” Margaret wrote. “The grandmother, her daughter, her one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter and a male relative were not planning to leave their home in Mexico. But when conditions deteriorated they entered the U.S. in Texas as undocumented aliens.

“Detained at the border, each member of the family was sent to a different detention center, including the baby. The baby and mother are now reunited in Texas. Bob is now at the airport with the grandmother.

“Maria had been cleared for release for over a week. We have awaited her arrival until today all because of want of a signature! A pro-bono lawyer from the Northwest Immigration Rights Project came to the house with us and helped us repack her belongings in two backpacks. Her things were the most exquisite crocheted items; she had kept herself occupied creating these in the detention center.

“A donor from Seattle paid for her ticket to Dallas and at our suggestion requested a wheelchair. Bob talked with the airline and was able to accompany Maria to the gate. He is awaiting the gate agent to tell her Maria speaks no English. Bob wrote a note for Maria to give to the wheelchair escort in Dallas to take her to the baggage claim. Looks like another successful Jericho Road helping hand.”

Later that evening Bob followed up:

“TSA and the airline staff were excellent. The TSA agent thanked our group for helping. (TSA) scanning people were very considerate. The gate agent was a young man fluent in Spanish. He paged Maria and said he’d look after her. I talked to a cabin attendant who spoke Spanish and said she would keep an eye out for her. Maria got to board first! Her flight left on time.

“By the time she boarded the plane, the world seemed a better place, and Maria learned that people in uniforms could be kind and helpful.”

In the Bible, the dangerous Jericho Road is the setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan, who helped a viciously beaten stranger when everyone else passed by.

Bob and Margaret, who asked that their last names not be used here, say it has a been a privilege to host and help more than 30 released detainees from 17 nations.

They are just two participants in a broad network of individuals and faith-based social service and relief organizations formed by AID NW, a Tacoma-based non-profit that assists released detainees.

This is a bad time in our country, with a morally-challenged president fanning the flames of fear and hatred.

But just knowing that there are Good Samaritans like Bob and Margaret in our midst — and other unheralded kind and helpful people everywhere — does make this nation and the world seem a better place.