The Student Life Diversity Initiatives and Latinx Heritage Month Committee recently hosted the event “families belong together.”
The main speaker was Ashley McCray. The event opened with a set of “Would You Rather” questions resting on the table. Some of the questions were fun and lighthearted, asking would the participant rather live in a Harry Potter World or Star Wars World.
However, some of the questions asked serious questions such as would the participant be separated from their families or deported back with them or would the person rather have a fainting spell.
As soon as the event was underway, McCray introduced herself and showed a video explaining what the ‘Families Belong Together’ movement was. This movement began over the summer when the current administration implemented a “no tolerance” policy for illegal immigrants.
As the event continued, participants were separated into two groups and presented information by either Professor Meagan Dwyer or another guest speaker from the Peace Corps, Natalie Bowman.
Bowman explained the differences between refugees, resettled refugees, asylum seeker, and economic migrant.
A refugee is a person with a fear of being persecuted in their own country and having no protection from it. A resettled refugee is a person who came to the U.S. and managed to get the UN to helped get settled. An asylum seeker is someone who comes to this country seeking sanctuary. And finally, an economic migrant is a person who moves for monetary reasons.
