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Sarah Anjali at Southampton Village Hall on Saturday evening. DANA SHAW
Greta was there by herself, too, Sarah Anjali observed sheepishly.
A yoga teacher and resident of North Sea, Ms. Anjali had hoped to host a candlelight vigil for families separated at the southern U.S. border — but no one showed up.
Sitting alone on the steps of Southampton Village Hall on Saturday evening, Ms. Anjali consoled herself by referencing the now-famous climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who began her mission by skipping school and protesting outside Swedish Parliament at the age of 15 — all alone.
“I just feel like this time of year, everybody wants to be with their families,” she said, as to why she wanted to host the vigil, and why nobody came. “I don’t know the answer, but I think we can do better.”
The former middle school teacher expressed a special affinity for children, and wished she could go to the border to see those interned there and separated from their parents. Families that risked the border crossing, knowing apprehension by immigration officials in the United States was a possibility, “must have been escaping something pretty harsh,” she reasoned.
After seeing posts on social media about the issue, so many questions wondering what people can do, Ms. Anjali decided to host the vigil “to show the government we don’t like this. It’s not right,” she said.
She talked about the issue, and the need for compassion in the country, in her yoga classes. Still, she was alone at the would-be vigil Saturday night.
Border Patrol encountered a record 144,000 undocumented immigrants at the southwest border last May, according to a NBC news report aired last June. Of them, more than 100,000 were taken into custody.
The Customs and Border Patrol stats quoted in the report revealed that of the 132,000 who were caught entering the country illegally, 11,000 were unaccompanied children, and more than 84,000 were traveling as a family unit.
