Stephanie Jackson and her husband planted a church 10 years ago, and they know several immigrants who have faced detention and deportation — including one man who was pulled over and sent to a detention center. He was told he would be deported and was beaten and chained during the process. Left behind, his family lived in fear of cartel violence as they waited for word of his safety.

Alongside the heartbreak of witnessing these stories, Stephanie describes the added pain of trying to convince others that these abuses are real. It’s often easier to look away, but as Christians, we are called to see and respond to injustice.

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This video is part of the “This Is My Immigrant Neighbor” series, which invites us to see immigration not as an issue, but as a human story.

Video Transcript:

My name is Stephanie Jackson. I met my husband probably 12 years ago. We planted a church 10 years ago and have been pastoring that community for the last 10 years.

We’ve known people who have been deported. This year, the first one, he was just driving down the street and got pulled over and was detained, and he was taken to a detention center. He lost 40 pounds in two months, because his food was regularly tampered with. When he was told that he would be deported. He had no idea what that ride would be like, but he was physically beaten five or six times. He was chained by the neck to several other prisoners. Whatever the prisoners had on their person, they no longer had it. Everything was stolen, all of their money was confiscated, and they were just let off, uncuffed, said like, “Get out of here.” And so they have to cross the border with nothing.

Their wives or whoever is left behind are so fearful, because there’s a cartel there — that not only do they want them, like they’re waiting there. This is happening in real time. We’re not talking about 100 years ago anymore. Like something is terribly wrong here.

I actually talked to a pastor a little bit about this story and what happened to this man. And his response was, “If that’s what’s happening, I’m going to be the first one to protest.” And he said, “If that’s happening, if they can prove that that’s happening.” And my heart just broke, because I thought, “How do I prove it? What do I do? What else do I say to make you believe?” And I’m one person in one place. I can’t imagine what’s happening all over the place.

They’re desperate almost to be understood, and they’re desperate for somebody to see them as humans, so that they can have their family intact or just be restored to some kind of human decency. There’s been fear and roadblocks every time they take a step toward it.

I just think we’re doing everything a disservice when we create policies or treat such a complicated situation like we can just get rid of people. I mean, people are not — we don’t just get rid of people.

The evangelical church — for the church, we have to do the work of getting in front of people. We have to put people at the same tables. When you don’t know these people, it’s so easy to just be unaffected by it. But that’s why justice has to matter to us. Because I might be advocating for this person right now, but if this was your child or if this was your situation, I would also advocate for it, because justice is justice.