Dedicating my summer to the CAPS Program, and more specifically the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, is not something I think I could have properly prepared myself for, but now that I have had some time to reflect on the entirety of the experience I am even more grateful for this opportunity. This past spring semester I studied abroad in Southern Africa, and came back with a lot of thoughts and feelings, and was hit harder with reverse culture shock than I had expected. Being in Chicago proved as a good transition back into the United States, or at least back to Valpo. I grew up on a cow farm, so living in the South Loop on the 15th floor of an apartment complex and driving in Chicago traffic was just as foreign to me as the countries in Southern Africa. Working with ICDI, I had the opportunity to learn about the entirety of the U.S. immigration system, immerse myself in interfaith dialogue, learn the ins and out of a non-profit organization, and see the first hand effects of our ever changing politics after only getting my political information after the presidential inauguration through a skewed lens(being abroad, local residents giving their opinion on U.S. politics, people fearing for me how the U.S. would be different once I got home). Reflecting on many of my experiencing, I am just beginning to fathom how much I have learned.

        Participating in pastoral care with individuals in immigration detention centers gave me the opportunity to have interfaith dialogue and speak with people across different cultures, background, histories, and religion. Attending Immigration Court gave me the knowledge and understanding of the court system to speak confidently about the root of my beliefs when it comes to immigration within the United States. I have learned how to be more active in human rights dialogue through different venues within my internship, making connections with others, and living within the CAPS community. I have been able to raise more awareness for human rights issues and work towards dismantling the systems of oppression within our society. All ideas and passions that were more fully developed during my study abroad experience and learning firsthand about systems of oppression within the Southern African context in relationship to Apartheid, Namibian genocide, and making connections to similar events that have taken place within the United States such as the Native American Genocide, Segregation, and blatant racism. Through my participation in ICDI I learned more about non-profit organizations in a United States context and found affirmation for my sense of calling to attend seminary and do pastoral care through a lens of social justice in the future.

        With such an intense internship, it was necessary to process with other people and decide what the take away of the day, week, or summer had been. In communicating with other CAPS Fellows in Chicago, we realized many of us had grown up with parents from the generation of “You don’t talk about religion, politics, or money.” I always questioned this growing up and was given various answers as to why not to talk about these things: “People might not agree with you”, “It’s just being polite”, “There are nicer things to talk about.” As I have quickly learned at University, avoiding conversation about these topics is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing, and shows the vast amount of privilege we were raised with. Not talking about religion shows our religious freedom. I have learned that talking to those whose understanding of faith is different than my own, and it has led to fascinating conversation and reflection about why we carry out our religious practices the way we do. Avoiding the topic of politics, especially today, shows a certain amount of privilege. If the majority of the white, middle class, English speaking population were to not follow the news, they would be able to assume that there is nothing happening in the world that is directly affecting them. This population is safe and has nothing to worry about. Many minority populations are, have been, and will continue to be directly affected by politics and national news, including but not limited to immigrants, people of color, non-English speakers, those living in poverty, black lives, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, and more. And lastly, being able to avoid the topic of money, or not worry about money is a privilege many do not have as a majority of the wealth in our country is held by a very small percentage of United States residents, a gap that is continually becoming wider and wider.

        Other aspects of my internship that had a large effect on my learning within the experience were speaking with my mentor, and reflecting on ideals of leadership and purposeful work. Conversations with my mentor were highly motivating in following my passions and not working to meet the expectations others have about me, and focusing on the social justice issues I am most passionate about and have the most need despite the levels of controversy and debate surrounding certain issues. We talked about the importance of mindful conversation, especially with those different from one’s self, advocating for one’s self, and the importance of self-care amongst passionate work. While this summer’s internship was one of the most challenging experience I have been a part of to date, I am very thankful for the work I was able to for ICDI, and for the countless number of lessons, conversations, and unforgettable moments I had the blessing of being a part of.

I owe so much of what I have learned from those who have come before me and have been doing advocacy work for years and years. The two Sisters who began ICDI have the largest passion for equality for ALL people that I have ever seen. It is purely inspirational and motivating hear their story of all the obstacles they have overcome to open safe houses for immigrants, fundraise, begin a court watch program, pass a state law to give those in detention the right to pastoral care, and stand on the steps of the Broadview Detention Center every Friday for ten years to hold a prayer vigil for families being separated by deportation. These two Sisters have reached out over the years to hundreds of individuals that volunteer and participate with ICDI weekly. I am grateful for other volunteers I worked alongside with and learned from, and supervisors who shared their stories and wisdom with me. While I am glad I am back at school, I will be missing working every day with these important and necessary ministries, but I know I will be back to volunteer as often as I can.

If you feel called to help as well, ICDI always welcomes more volunteers: http://www.icdichicago.org/

Greetings!

My name is Katie Karstensen and this summer I have the opportunity to be working with ICDI, or the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants. When people ask where ICDI is located it’s hard to give one central location because we are all over the Chicagoland area, and even outside of the state of Illinois in some of our ministries and work. To share what it has been like so far interning with ICDI and talking about all the different ministries we do, I thought it would be easiest to take you through my week and share some of the stories I have encountered.

Mondays

On Mondays you will find me near the South West suburbs of Chicago at our main office where our executive director, the two Sisters who have founded this organization, the fundraising team, and volunteers have their offices. I have done various tasks such as pull staples from religious materials so we may bring them into county jails, file different documents for immigrants we have helped over the years, alphabetize our donor files, and do an experiment of printing out prayers on different colored sheets of paper and testing which ones bleed color the most so that we may take the best ones into jails, where we have learned from conversations with detainees that they save the Sunday comics and separate prints into different colored ink paper, mix the paper with water, and use it to paint. Our goal is to give the prayer sheets they may be able to easily tear apart and mix with water to paint with, as paint is not available to them.

Tuesdays

On Tuesdays I am in a South suburb in Chicago working with one of our Post-Detention accompaniment ministries. ICDI offes short and long term support for immigrants who have been released from detention and have nowhere to live, and may be in the process of seeking asylum, or have been granted asylum and are waiting for other documents before being able to support themselves in this country. I get to work alongside with volunteers working to offer spiritual care, transportation, meals, clothing, and other necessities as needed. We have a house for men, a house for women and children, and a 24 hour on call service that will offer immediate services to those who have been released or are in need. My project at the women’s house this summer has been organizing all of the donations we receive, and I have been creating relationships with residents of the house and sharing stories and meals with one another.

Wednesdays

You will find me at the Kankakee County Jail on Wednesday mornings where we participate in pastoral care for those in detention. Detainees are allowed phone calls once a day they must pay for and allowed only one visit for no more than half an hour each week with family members or friends. Thanks to the hard work of the two sisters who founded this organization, and promoting that those in jail have the right to pastoral care, they have managed to get their way into jails so volunteers can visit face to face in the same room as detainees each week. ICDI visits detainees in Kenosha, McHenry, Dodge, and Kankakee County Jails, where we make 4,000 contact visits every year. I have met one on one with detainees from all over the world, some who were picked up by immigration upon entering the country, and those who have been in the country since they were a small child, have a career, multiple children, and are facing deportation and returning to country and culture they may know little to nothing about. This ministry is intense, but extremely necessary. Prisons are for long term sentences and normally have lots of programming, but county jails are for shorter terms and have little to no programming, but we have met with many people who have been in detention for months and months at a time. During our allotted thirty minutes to visit with detainees, we listen to their stories, speak of whatever they wish to talk about, offer a space for interfaith dialogue, and provide religious materials to them they are able to keep. An occurrence with someone at Kankakee that I have not been able to get out of my head and don’t know if I ever will was when one of the men I had finished talking to as he prepared to leave and I shook his hand and thanked him for coming to sit with me, said “Your group of volunteers that meet with us are the only human hands that touch us without wearing latex gloves.” Never had I thought about one simple handshake having the potential to mean so much to a person.

Thursdays

On this day I visit two different Immigration Courts in downtown Chicago where “court watchers” go into immigration cases and sit in the courtroom in solidarity and support of those who have hearings. Final hearings are usually the only hearings in which detainees physically come into the court, otherwise there is a television screen set up in the courtroom and that connects with detention centers via televideo. Everyone in the court can see the television, but the detainee on the other side can only see the judge, and hears all that is said by the judge, attorney, government representative, and translator through one microphone. And if the detainee speaks a different language than English or whatever languages the translator may be able to interpret, the judge calls an over the phone translation service and the phone translator is projected over a loudspeaker, which I cannot imagine from the detainees perspective is a very effective way of communication when dealing with such sensitive issues. And all that is interpreted are the words addressed back and forth between the judge and the detainee, not what the government or attorney have to say.

I have found my time in court to not offer much humanity for those who go through this court system, and am thankful ICDI encourages volunteers to enter court systems and offer some humanity on behalf of those waiting to hear about their immigration or asylum status.

Fridays

On Fridays you will find a group of passionate people holding a prayer vigil on the steps of the ICE Office in Broadview, Illinois. This is where all the ministry of ICDI began, when Sister Pat and Sister Jo Ann saw every Friday at 7am immigrants being put into busses to be taken to O’Hare and deported back to their countries of origin. Every Friday, rain or shine, summer and winter, all year round people gather in this place to pray and send good thoughts for those being deported. The first Friday of every month we have an Interfaith prayer vigil where reflections of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist traditions are shared among one another, and the other Fridays of the month we pray the Catholic Rosary together. This week I was able to share the Christian reflection as a part of our Interfaith service:

https://youtu.be/fP8f4qKgrW8

Saturdays

Every other Saturday I volunteer with our Unaccompanied Children’s Interfaith Ministry, where we provide spiritual care to migrant children who are in this country without a parent or guardian. Many of these children are fleeing the most violent areas on earth. We meet with these children to provide spiritual accompaniment through prayer, songs, arts and crafts, other creative activities across many language barriers based on interfaith themes such as hope, thanksgiving, and strength for the journey they are on. In conversation with these children, it does not feel as if I am talking to a child, but rather someone much wiser and older, and who has lived through much more than I ever hope to go through or experience. These children have been through much, but they are resilient and they are strong.

On a Saturday I was not visiting our unaccompanied children’s home I had the opportunity to represent ICDI at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s convention in Tinley Park where I was able to share our ministry with the wider church.

Going into this internship I admit I did not have a large amount of knowledge about the immigration system in the United States. After working with this wonderful organization for a month now I cannot believe how much I have learned, how much there still is to learn, and there are many steps to take until this is truly a humane system.