The Boston Marathon Bombing And The Immigration Connection

As police have arrested the suspects, it appears that two brothers who were immigrants and came to the United States as children were responsible for the Boston Marathon Bombings. 

By Friday, Senator Chuck Grassley, R–Iowa, has already blamed the events on gaps and loopholes in the immigration system. Grassley is wrong. The problem is not with gaps and loopholes in the immigration system. The problem is with the infinite horror that people perpetrate on each other. The immigration system worked just fine here. The problem is with the lack of social and psychological support families receive.

From what NBC news is reporting, it appears that the two suspects entered the United States 10 years ago as children and were granted asylum. The older brother was a lawful permanent resident and the younger brother became a U.S. citizen on Sept. 11, 2012. I am presuming from these facts that they immigrated with one or both of their parents who obtained asylum from the United States government. 

To understand how they immigrated and why, you have to understand what asylum is. To get asylum a person must show that he or she has been persecuted or is afraid of being persecuted by the government in their home country or by a group that the government cannot or will not control on account of the person’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

It is a tough standard to meet and many of the clients whom I have represented have been deeply damaged and psychologically scarred by the horror they experienced in their home country.

I have represented a women’s rights activist from Afghanistan who saw her husband murdered in front of her eyes in the middle of the day because she was educating women in her home contrary to the decree of the Taliban.

She saw her mother murdered by the Taliban at her home because her mother had the audacity to send her girls to school. She continued to speak out against the Taliban and to speak out for women, in spite of being gang-raped, and in spite of having her children kidnapped by the Taliban. She managed to get out of Afghanistan and get to the United States. Her children are still in hiding in Afghanistan. Their lives are at risk because of their mother’s actions. 

I have represented native Mayans from Guatemala who were tortured, beaten, and raped by the Guatemalan soldiers and by the Guatemalan rebels just because they were native-Mayan or were believed to be supporting either the soldiers or the rebels. 

I have represented gay men from Russia and Mexico who were repeatedly gang-raped by police, or soldiers, or roaming gangs of men in the parks just because they were gay. 

I have represented Christians from Egypt and from Pakistan whose families lost everything they had and who were imprisoned and tortured just because they were Christian. 

I have represented a Shiite Muslim doctor from Iraq who was tortured and imprisoned because he refused to convert to Sunni Islam and because he refused to join the Ba’ath party. 

This list is by no means exhaustive. After meeting with each one of these clients I often have nightmares for nights as I think about and process their stories. In all honesty, representing them and getting them sanctuary in the United States is the most rewarding part of my job. 

These immigrants have been through hell and they're survivors from their countries. They are the strong ones who managed to escape and find sanctuary in the United States. They are the bravest people I know. They pick up their lives and do what they have to do to take care of themselves and their families. But, they are severely damaged people; all of whom need extensive mental health support.  

The fact that the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects came from such a family does not surprise me. When I stop to think about it, I am only surprised that more of these people and their children have not exploded in violence after the horrors they have experienced.

I don’t know how to keep our society safe from damaged people like these two young men in Boston, but I do know that closing our borders and refusing to provide refuge to people who will be murdered unless we give them sanctuary is not the answer.