A vibrant mural, titled "Let it Weave Us," located at BorderLinks in Tucson, Arizona. Photo courtesy of Claire Mistretta.
Migrants in shackles stood before a judge, who asked them whether they had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border “of their own free will.”
Claire Mistretta was there, observing immigration court proceedings in Tucson, Arizona.
“I understood the intersection of immigration policy and criminal law in theory, but nothing can prepare you for seeing it,” said Mistretta, a final-year master’s student at the Boston College School of Social Work. “I continue to think about how striking that language is—‘of their own free will’—especially as it is juxtaposed against this image of these people being shackled.”
Her experience in immigration court was part of “Service to Migrants: A Border Perspective,” a course where students examine immigration systems through direct engagement with the people in them. As part of a weeklong trip in January, she and her classmates visited Tucson, Arizona, and Nogales on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, stopping at migrant shelters, Border Patrol facilities, a medical examiner’s office, and the Sonoran Desert.
“Standing face-to-face with a Border Patrol agent or witnessing the labyrinthine realities of an immigration court helps to make simple narratives complex,” said Professor Rocío Calvo, who led the students on the trip in collaboration with BorderLinks, a non-profit organization that provides experiential learning opportunities that explore the difficulties of life along the U.S.-Mexico border. “Students are pushed to look at the often contradictory legal, political, and systemic constraints of immigration.”
The Sonoran Desert. Photo courtesy of Karen Amaya.
Mistretta, for example, said Border Patrol officers discussed the importance of prioritizing safety and caring for the communities where they work—two values that social workers also hold but apply in different ways.
“I’m the kind of person who tries to remain curious and assume that there’s always more to learn,” said Mistretta, who specializes in mental health and previously worked as a refugee case manager for Catholic Charities. “There are layers of complexity to everything, and creating space for nuance isn’t simple.”
Karen Amaya, a first-year student specializing in Latinx communities, echoed Mistretta. As a child of immigrants, she grew up understanding immigration as a personal experience shaped by family history. Now, she understands immigration as a “complex, often traumatic process shaped by systems, policies, and conditions that most people never see.”
She described the border as a place where human dignity is challenged, filled with frightened yet hopeful migrants simply trying to survive. But she also saw it as a place where community members, volunteers, and advocates work tirelessly to care for migrants moving through the region.
The Sonoran Desert, a vast landscape of mountains and cacti marked by signposts with numbers to call Border Patrol, reflected both the U.S. policies that push migrants toward harsh terrain and the network of volunteers who navigate the environment to leave supplies for those crossing it.
“The amount of help there is near the border really surprised me,” said Amaya, who has worked with immigrants as an intern at the Mario Umana Academy, a dual-language school in East Boston, where students receive instruction in both English and Spanish. “These individuals leave water, food, and basic supplies throughout the desert because they care for people.”
As part of a weeklong trip in January, students, faculty, and staff visited Tucson, Arizona, and Nogales on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, stopping at migrant shelters, Border Patrol facilities, a medical examiner’s office, and the Sonoran Desert. Photo courtesy of Claire Mistretta.
Calvo built structured reflection into the course, enabling students to process what they witnessed at the border through daily discussions and written responses. After the trip, she emphasized accompaniment, the practice of walking alongside others in their journeys of personal growth and professional development, to help students integrate what they learned into their field placements.
“If our future social workers are going to provide a high standard of service and advocacy to immigrants, they must practice stepping out of their comfort zones and engage in rigorous critical thinking,” said Calvo.
Both Mistretta and Amaya said their experiences at the border reinforced their commitment to working with migrant and refugee communities after graduation.
Mistretta vowed to remember the sanctity of migrants’ stories in her daily work with the community, calling it an “honor to be entrusted to hold them.”
Amaya said the trip made her realize that she wants to amplify migrant voices and push for humane and compassionate policy change. As she put it: “I’m even more committed to working in settings that will allow me to work with immigration, trauma, and community-based support.”