Welcome Strangers
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Every night at 6pm, just outside of Denver, Colorado, detained immigrants are legally released from an ICE facility onto unfriendly, industrial streets. Most of the men and women are asylum-seekers. They have little idea where they are and have nothing more than the clothes on their backs. WELCOME STRANGERS is a short documentary that tells the story of Sarah Jackson, a young woman who searches the streets for these immigrants and invites them as guests into her home, Casa de Paz. She is assisted by Oliver, the lead host, who was also held at the ICE facility for seven and a half months as an immigrant from West Cameroon. Sarah, Oliver, and over a thousand volunteers work to provide hospitality and help reunite the guests with their families.
Palm Springs ShortFest Jury statement
“Welcome Strangers is a testament to the power of community, a film whose subject is a beacon, lifeline and bridge to the immigration process. This honest, relevant and inspiring story is a reminder of the human spirit and the importance of “loving thy neighbor.””
University of Denver | Elizabeth Escobedo, Associate Professor of History
“Welcome Strangers is an intimate look at what true hospitality looks like, one simple act of radical love at a time. For instructors looking to humanize the experiences of immigrants who experience detention, and to highlight the ways in which individuals can make a difference in supporting vulnerable populations, this film is an accessible, powerful teaching tool."
Winona State University | Dr. J Paul Johnson, Professor, English and Film Studies
“Welcome Strangers reminds all of us that immigration is at its core a human concern and that we can help with grace and humility."
Nicole Murad, AILA Colorado Chapter Chair; Owner, Murad Immigration Law
"The movie [Welcome Strangers] brings to light the struggles immigrants face with feeling alone and away from their families, while at the same time, shows the power of welcoming our neighbors and others in need. Dealing with these struggles, while navigating complex law, is at the heart of every immigration attorney’s work. Thank you for making this powerful film."
CU Boulder | Julia, Student, Anthropology Dept.
"I just wanted to say thank you… today’s class made me very emotional and intrigued to learn more about the asylum seeking process. I was excited for this class before, but now I am even way more excited to learn throughout the semester!"
Congregation Har Hashem | Lauren Park. Tikkun Olam (Social Justice) Committee Chair
“Welcome Strangers... inspired our congregation to reflect upon our moral responsibility to protect refugees based upon our collective Jewish history of oppression and displacement and reaffirm our commitment to welcoming vulnerable immigrants in our own community. It informed us about the good work already being done in our community to help support refugees, and provided concrete action items so everyone could get involved. Thank you… for making such a beautiful and moving film."
Congregation Bonai Shalom | Rabbi Marc Soloway
"The short film [Welcome Strangers] tells the incredible story of Casa de Paz and the thousands who have found loving sanctuary there after the trauma and uncertainty of detention."
Citation
Main credits
Savage, Dia Sokol (film director)
Savage, Dia Sokol (film producer)
Savage, Garret (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematographer, Matthias Grunsky, BVK; editor, Chelsea Jackson; music by Mark Crawford.
Distributor subjects
Immigration,”Border Studies”,Refugees,”Christian Values”,”Human Rights”,”International Studies”,Politics,”Government Policy”,Policy,”Immigration Policy”Keywords
00:00:01 Titles:
Since 2012, Sarah Jackson has been opening her home to immigrants who have just been released from detention. She is supported by hundreds of volunteers. She calls her house Casa de Paz (House of Peace).
00:00:19 Sarah: Hi this is Sarah with Casa de Paz. I just missed a call, maybe from someone from intake?
00:00:26 Man on phone: Oh yeah, can you have your volunteers stick around? Because we had someone that changed their mind.
00:00:31 Sarah: Yes, we're actually on our way right now. So if you just have them wait in the lobby, we'll come around really shortly.
00:00:37 Man on phone: OK. Very good.
00:00:39 Sarah: Thank you!
00:00:40 Man on phone: Sure thing.
00:00:41 Sarah: Bye.
00:00:44 [car turning on]
00:00:50 Sarah: I'm actually kind of excited about this because I haven't done a pickup in a long time. I'm going to know how it feels when I throw our volunteers into this. In the middle of the night, "Go to a prison and pick up people that you find walking around… And just don't scare them so much that they'll run away."
00:01:23 Sarah: All right, let's do this!
00:01:29 Sarah: So I would just keep your eyes open too because maybe they're sitting down somewhere.
00:01:34. Woman Speaker 1: Do you know anything about them?
00:01:36 Sarah: Nope.
00:01:37.988 Troy: Nope.
00:01:42 Troy: So the thing is, a lot of these people that are released, they don't really know much even about Denver. So when they're released, they're released into this industrial world, really with no idea of where to go. [pause] How are you guys doing? [in Spanish] Do you speak Spanish? Yes? I’m Troy from Casa de Paz. Are you looking for Casa de Paz?
00:02:13 Jesus: [in Spanish] Yes.
00:02:14 Male Speaker 1: Are you going with them?
00:02:16 Sarah: [in Spanish] Hello.
00:02:18 Troy: [in Spanish] What’s your name?
00:02:20 Jesus: Jesus
00:02:21 Troy: Jesus? [in Spanish] Nice to meet you.
00:02:22 Sarah: [in Spanish] I’m Sarah. How are you?
00:02:23 Jesus: I’m good.
00:02:24 Sarah: [in Spanish] Congratulations! [laughter] He’s going to the Casa with you. We’re going to look for other immigrants. Can you go with my friend Troy? Ok. Perfect.
00:02:44 Sarah: I mean, I was really happy working at the church. I was really happy because
it was a job that I did really well in and I was fulfilled in. And I could have seen my life turn out
as an elderly lady still working at the church. I thought growing up that I would have a family
and I would have kids and the whole thing. But I don't think that's what I really wanted. I think that's what I thought I was supposed to do. And now I know what I want. I want to do this.
00:03:23 Title:
WELCOME STRANGERS
00:03:27 Sarah: Wait, there's nothing in here. Oh wait. [laughing]
00:03:32 Sarah: This one says "Peace 2018."
00:03:34 Oliver: Nice.
00:03:35 Sarah: [voiceover] Oliver and I, we both live here at the Casa. We both have real day jobs. We're 100 percent volunteer run. And Oliver is a former guest of the Casa.
00:03:46 Sarah: Look at this. [laughing]
00:03:49 Oliver: When I tell people, "Hey, Sarah is my sister," they look at a picture and say, "hey ... what?" So I'll just say, Sarah is my angel. One of my angels.
00:04:06 Sarah: So if you see stuff that needs to be donated, stuff that we're not going to use... I just wrote donations on this box.
00:04:13 Oliver: All right. Perfect.
00:04:15 Sarah: And then I'm just going to put it in the garage. If there's room.
00:04:24 Oliver: I was there for six months, in the detention. Then I won my asylum. I got out. I didn’t even know about Colorado. And one guard was like, “Hey, don't worry,” there's a place that I can spend a couple of nights, they can help me out before I can see how to get to my destination. What Sarah did for me for the few days that I got out, I will never ever explain, like what it meant to me.
00:04:56 Sarah: Yeah, so this is a...
00:04:57 Oliver: It's a woman's?
00:04:58 Sarah: Is it?
00:05:00 Oliver: No, I'm asking.
00:05:01 Sarah: I don't think we should trust your judgment. [laughing] Remember, what was that guy? Who was the one that you gave the women's coat to?
00:05:08 Oliver: Is it Mohammed from Somalia?
00:05:10 Sarah: Was it?
00:05:11 Oliver: Yeah. Megan's client, right?
00:05:13 Sarah: Megan emailed a day later and she's like, "Thank you so much for letting Mohammed stay at the Casa... even though Oliver gave him a lady's jacket." [both laugh]
00:05:25 Oliver: You hardly see a person like Sarah. A white girl that has no connection with a foreigner. She's not an immigrant, right? She has no reason to do what she's doing.
00:05:44 Sarah: Men or women's? [both laughing]
00:05:50 Sarah: In the scriptures that I read, the most important thing we can do is to love the Lord, our God, with our heart, our soul, and our mind. But the second most important thing that we can do is to love our neighbor the way we love ourselves. And so, how would I want to be treated if I was in this position? If my dad came to the United States and then was put into a prison? How would I want him to be treated? If my sister's baby was separated from her at the border, what would I want people to do to get my sister and her baby back together again?
00:06:27 Oliver: I'm from Cameroon, the English-speaking part of Cameroon. So we are the minority. So that's one of the reasons why I have to leave Cameroon because of the violence. I realized that if I stay in Cameroon, it's either I'll be in jail or get killed. Just decided to leave so that I can at least raise my daughter.
00:06:58 Oliver: Here's my beautiful baby girl.
00:07:02 Sarah and Kylie: Feliz navidad.
00:07:06 Jesus: Thank you!
00:07:08 Oliver: She likes it here.
00:07:11 Sarah: I just want Oliver to be with his family again. I know he has Kylie here, his daughter, and I know that that's renewed his vigor in life. But I also know that he's not with his entire family.
00:07:25 Oliver: Kylie's mom is in detention in California. I haven't seen my wife since I left Cameroon. That is three years now. Hopefully she'll be out in a couple of months.
00:07:38 Kylie: Ooh, look.
00:07:39 Oliver: Or weeks by the grace of God.
00:07:43 Sarah: Our entire mission is to reunite families. And that's the work that he does every single day and yet he is still not reunited with his family.
00:07:58 Armando: I just got a text from Sarah saying that a person from Cameroon was just released.
00:08:05 Armando: You're probably freezing.
00:08:13 [doorbell ringing]
00:08:22 Armando: Hello, Sarah! We found him with no jacket.
00:08:26 Sarah: Oh no! We have jackets.
00:08:28 Armando: Come on in.
00:08:36 Sarah: Are those things helpful?
00:08:38 Helman: Very helpful.
00:08:40 Sarah: Is there anything that's missing that you might need? Do you want a pink razor? [laughter]
00:08:46 Helman: No, it's OK. [laughing]
00:08:49 Sarah: There's soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant. We have clothes in here too, if you need to change your clothes. We have pants, shirts, jackets, underwear, socks. Are you hungry? Thirsty?
00:09:03 Helman: I'm starving.
00:09:04 Sarah: You're starving? We don't have any food.
00:09:06 Helman: No problem.
00:09:07 Sarah: Sorry. [laughter] I'm just joking. No.
00:09:09 Helman: Can I freshen up?
00:09:11 Sarah: Yeah. The bathroom's just right there. My roommate that lives here with me, he's from Cameroon. His name's Oliver. He loves it when people from Cameroon get released.
00:09:22 [murmuring]
00:09:25 Woman Speaker 2: Did you come with friends or family?
00:09:27 Helman: No, I came alone, but I met some friends on the way so we walked together.
00:09:33 Sarah: Did you cross in Tijuana?
00:09:35 Helman: Yes, I did. Some were afraid that I came with, they took another path and they jumped the fence.
00:09:44 Sarah: Why did you choose to do it the other way?
00:09:48 Helman: In my mind, I thought I wanted to enter legally. So to jump, I thought maybe you were committing a crime. So I decided to walk.
00:10:00 Sarah: Did you think that you would be detained in a prison if you did it the legal way? Did you know that that would happen?
00:10:08 Helman: Rumor was they said if you jumped, they'll shoot you. That's why I was scared. I don't know. By jumping, you're committing a crime.
00:10:17 [sound of young girl’s voice]
00:10:18 Sarah: Who's here? Kylie!
00:10:21 [Kylie screaming with joy]
00:10:22 Sarah: Get over here, give me a hug! Hi! This is Oliver.
00:10:26 Oliver: [in Cameroonian Pidgin English] Hey, bro.
00:10:26 Helman: [in Cameroonian Pidgin English] Hey, boy.
00:10:26 Oliver: How are you?
00:10:30 Helman: I’m fine.
00:10:33 Oliver: Sorry about your situation.
00:10:35 Helman: Thank you, bro.
00:10:36 Oliver: Congrats. How you feeling now?
00:10:37 Helman: Better, better.
00:10:39 Sarah: Are you getting any closer to blowing a bubble? Close. I think it's a little closer than last night.
00:10:44 Oliver: Then you hire a lawyer, you do that in small, small, it will be easier.
00:10:50 [microwave beeping]
00:10:50 Helman: [in Cameroonian Pidgin English] I have a baby.
00:10:53 Oliver: Where? At home?
00:10:54 Helman: One year and two months.
00:10:57 Oliver: Boy or girl?
00:10:58 Helman: Girl, actually.
00:11:00 Oliver: He has a daughter too.
00:11:01 Sarah: I know.
00:11:01 Oliver: One year.
00:11:02 Sarah: Do you want to know something that's kind of silly? His daughter's name is Sasha, and that was the name of my first cat.
00:11:10 [all laughing]
00:11:19 Sarah: [voiceover] Most of the guests that stay at Casa de Paz are asylum seekers. These are immigrants who have fled their home country because it's too dangerous to live there. So just because you're in an immigrant detention center, doesn't mean that you've committed a crime.
00:11:40 [train crossing]
00:11:45 Cassie: Hi. Are, are any of you being released from detention?
00:11:54 Woman Speaker 3: They need to go to Casa de Paz, can you help them?
00:11:56 Cassie: Yes! I'm from Casa de Paz.
00:12:00 Cassie: [in Spanish] I speak a little Spanish.
00:12:12 Javier: [in Spanish] I have a question.
00:12:13 Cassie: [in Spanish] Yes?
00:12:14 Javier: [in Spanish] Are you going to take me to the immigrant detention center?
00:12:16 Cassie: [in Spanish] Pardon? Can you repeat the question?
00:12:21 Javier: [in Spanish] Are you going to take me to immigration?
00:12:24 Cassie: Oh no, no, no, no, no. [chuckles]
00:12:26 Cassie: [in Spanish] No, we’re going to the Casa de Paz. Those people are going to help you. They’re volunteers from the Casa de Paz. They’re not from immigration, ok? [pause] This is Joe. Joe is also a volunteer from Casa de Paz. [pause] Joe and I need to go inside the immigration center to check for other released people. You can wait here in my car. You don’t need to go back to the immigration center, okay? Do you understand?
00:13:17 Javier: [in Spanish] yes.
00:13:19 Cassie: [in Spanish] Ok, just a minute.
00:14:05 Cassie: [in Spanish] Let’s go to the house!
00:14:08 Cassie: OK. Come, come, please.
00:14:11 Sarah: Hey Cassie!
00:14:12 Cassie: Hi, Sarah. How are you? This is Manu.
00:14:15 Sarah: Manu?
00:14:15 Cassie: Yes, he's from India. This is Javier, he's from Mexico.
00:14:19 Sarah: Cómo estás?
00:14:20 Javier: Bien, gracias.
00:14:23 Cassie: I know Javier would really like to call his family. Let his wife know he's, um, free!
00:14:29 Sarah: [in Spanish] Congratulations!
00:14:31 Javier: [in Spanish] Thanks.
[pause]
00:14:34 Javier: [in Spanish] Hi, my beautiful love. I’ve been released! Darling, you can imagine what it was like in there for three months. I was so tense. [pause] Yes, pass the phone to him. You have Ninja Turtles toys? Oh, that’s good.
00:14:59 Cassie: Aww. [in Spanish] Precious. He looks just like you, his dad. Yes. I think so! [laughs]
00:15:12 [group chatter]
00:15:16 Javier: [in Spanish] I’m fleeing from Mexico because when I was there, they beat me up. I got these scars from being hit. My legs were swollen after so many blows… and my back, my ribs. And this tooth, they knocked it out. They thought I was dead. Thank God I’m alive for my kids. But for the guys who beat me, I’m dead. So I told my wife I would request asylum to bring them here. Thank God I’m here and I’m hoping my children will get asylum. I have proof. I have photos in Mexico. And I will ask my wife to send them and I’ll show them to the judge so I can win the case.
00:16:02 Woman Speaker 4: [in Spanish] Yes, the more evidence, the better.
00:16:00 Javier: [in Spanish] I really appreciate the lady who picked us up. I probably would have slept in the street. Thank you!
00:16:15 Cassie: [in Spanish] It was my pleasure.
00:16:20 Javier: [in Spanish] It’s very hard to be locked up. When I had problems coming into this country, I couldn’t get ahold of my wife. I didn’t know what to think. And I thought the worst. There are many difficulties.
00:16:32 Woman Speaker 4: [in Spanish] Because you were locked up?
00:16:34 Javier: [in Spanish] Yes. There were times when I was locked up by myself, and I cried hard, I won’t lie about it.
00:16:47 Sarah: It's this, like, bittersweet thing, when you welcome an immigrant who has just been released from detention like Javier. And you're so happy that he's finally free and he's not behind bars. And you open up the door to your home, you welcome them in, you tell them, "Congratulations! I'm so glad you're free." But then in the same breath, you realize that he's not with his family.
00:17:21 Oliver: I have faith, you know?
00:17:23 Helman: Sleep well.
00:17:24 Oliver: OK. Bye-bye, bro
.
00:17:29 Oliver: I have faith that we will all be with our families.
00:17:39 Titles:
SIX WEEKS LATER
Oliver’s wife has been released from detention in California.
00:17:51 Sarah: [excited scream] Where are you? [pause] Hello!
00:18:16 [happy sobbing]
00:18:20 Sarah: Oh my gosh. Hello! It's nice to meet you.
00:18:26 Mirabelle: Sarah!
00:18:28 Sarah: I'm so happy! Welcome to Denver! Yay! Kylie! Yay your mommy's home. Woo hoo!
[pause]
00:18:53 Sarah: It was, um, about a year and a half ago where I had this vision in my head. I was asleep, I woke up and then I just I saw in my head, it was a very cold, winter night. It was dark outside. And then I saw this kind of orangey, red glow. And I was kind of having an out-of-body experience because I remember I was like flying around and I was like "Ooh, I want to go there. That looks warm and comfortable and cozy." And there was a really long table and there were people all around the table, and they were eating dinner. And there were people from all different countries, speaking different languages, eating different kinds of food, and all I heard was laughter and fun conversation and people having a good time together. And then I saw people going in and out of the house, some people were bringing food, other people were walking out with guests and they were getting them to the next step. And then I realized, I think this is Casa de Paz.
00:20:04 Titles:
to learn more or get involved, visit
WELCOMESTRANGERSFILM.COM
00:20:09 CREDITS
