Beyond The Coat

This story has nothing to do with pediatric cancer, but it does have everything to do with being what I consider a responsible human being and being part of the collective population of the world.

I have thought long and hard about if and how I want to tell this story and the potential repercussions and the criticisms that may follow. Yet, I still think this story is worth telling.

Recently I was flying from Houston to Miami for a work related trip. I was rushing to make the flight and had a lot of work to do on the plane. I sat down and was minding my own business. Somewhere in all of the hustle of people settling into their seats, I hear a woman ask, “Can I switch seats and sit with them? This is their first time flying.”

I continue checking email on my phone and moments later I hear a man ask, “Can you switch seats so my girls can sit together?” Again, I pay no attention and keep hoping that the seat in between me and the gentleman on the aisle stays empty. The aircraft doors close and he and I are nearly giddy that we got the one empty seat in coach in between us.

The flight takes off and once we reach cruising altitude I take out my laptop to start working on some stuff. I’m in my own world until they come around for beverage service and I begin to look up and notice my surroundings. There are two teenage girls one row ahead of me and I notice that they don’t seem to understand what the flight attendant is saying when she asks them for their drink order. I order my drink. I hear the woman behind me order drinks for the people she is sitting with “they’ll each have a coke.” I had anticipated that the people behind me who had never flown before were small children. Being a nosy pediatrician, I think it’s odd a woman would order a coke for small children and I sort of turn around to see them and they are also two teenage girls.

One of the girls behind me gets a package of pretzels and inspects it like shes never seen it before. I smile at her through the crack of the seat and she nervously smiles back. When she smiles, I notice her teeth are capped in silver in a way that is not usually done in the US.

The lady with them speaks to them exactly one time in Spanish, but speaks to the flight attendant in perfect English with no accent. I live in a border state. Many of my patients are from first generation families. It is not uncommon for the parents to speak limited English, but the kids almost always do. There’s something about the plasticity of the young brain that allows it to learn multiple languages more easily than the adult brain.

I start to get an uneasy feeling.

I look at the girls in the row in front of me. They appear to be about 14-15 years old. They have not talked to each other the whole flight. They are the pair that the man referred to as “my girls”. They don’t act like any sisters I have met – especially if they are as close in age as they appear to be. They don’t have any carry on luggage. They don’t have any phones, books, ipod or other music device. The are just sitting there, staring straight ahead and not talking to each other. They have no personal items with them at all. I notice their hands and they are sort of dirty and unkempt – particularly their nails. They are broken and have dirt under them. The kind of dirt under the nails that is familiar to me from working in the fields with my family. The day in, day out dirt that just wont come out no matter how much you scrub because of repeatedly working with your hands or being in the fields.

I become increasingly uncomfortable.

These children seem out of place. They all appear to be from Central America. The man and the woman traveling with them are middle aged, unassumingly dressed, clean cut and speak perfect English. They are traveling with 4 girls who appear to have just arrived to the country from my observations.

I sit there for the next hour and watch them. The four girls stare straight ahead. None of them talk. One girl notices me looking around and starts to nervously look around and avoids eye contact with me.

I tell myself to mind my own business. I can no longer concentrate on the project I was working on. I try to connect to inflight wifi to look up warning signs of human trafficking. I can’t connect. I tell myself to mind my own business. I still can’t concentrate.

I decide I’m not going to say anything.

Then I think, what if this was my daughter. What if she was in trouble? What if someone could help her but was afraid to speak up? Would I be offended if someone was wrong, or would I be happy they cared enough to ask?

I start to shake when I think of my future teenage daughter in trouble. Maybe she got into a situation she doesn’t know how to get out of. Maybe she is afraid. Maybe she made mistakes she doesn’t think are fixable. Maybe she is praying the lady in the next row notices.

I get up and move to the galley and approach the flight attendant. “Can I ask you something?” “Yes of course.” “Is there anyway to check if those 4 girls are OK?” I launch into my concerns. I take a deep breath explicitly state, “I am afraid they are being trafficked. Something doesn’t feel right.”

They ask me if I am associated with the airline and I say, “no I’m just a pediatrician. I do take care of a lot of kids though and these girls don’t appear to be with people who love them.”

The flight attendant says, no I think that woman is one of our Premier members. In my head I think, “why is she one row away from the back of the plane then?” followed by, “maybe she gets a lot of miles transporting kids.”

Nevertheless, they do take my concerns and start to look at the flight manifest. Remember they had all switched seats at the beginning of the flight, so it took a long time to figure out who they were. Each girl has a different last name. Not a huge deal, but the flight attendant strikes up a conversation with the lady. She tells her that she is taking them and a boy (who I didn’t notice) to a church in Miami.

We all exchange an uncomfortable glance. They tell me that they will talk to the captain. I return to my seat. 20 minutes later they call me back to the galley and they are asking me more information. The male flight attendant from the front of the plane comes back yelling, “Where is the pediatrician who is complaining?!”

He starts to loudly (just short of yelling) tell me that this is ridiculous and the female flight attendants should have come to him. He tells me the woman is part of the ‘Global Services’ program and the children are undocumented children who “have been separated from their parents at the border” and she is “transporting them to a safe house in Miami”. He tells me this happens all the time and yes of course they look frightened because they have been forcibly removed from their parents.

Let’s pause from the story for a moment —

First, I found it odd that he used the word ‘safe house’. I have worked with the office of refugee resettlement and provided medical care to children in their custody. They don’t call them safe houses. They are referred to as shelters.

Second, I’m embarrassed to say that at the time he was gaslighting me, I didn’t even think to say, “Umm, President Trump issued an executive order on June 20, 2018 that reversed the policy of separating children from their parents at the border.” Here is a link to the order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/

If you don’t know what gaslighting is – here is a quick definition “Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.” Read below for more gaslighting snippets from this gem of an employee.

The male attendant then tells me that United Airlines does not participate in human trafficking, to which I respond, “Of course not knowingly!” He proceeds to tell me that children can’t fly with one parent alone without written permission from the other parent. Of course, I respond, “That’s simply not true, I just took flights with my minor children by myself.” He says, “well you can’t take international flights with them.” I flippantly ask if Houston to Miami is considered an international flight. He then proceeds to tell me that human trafficking is not a problem domestically and it mainly happens from Asian countries to the US.

Clearly what he just said is not true. I know this. The following event happened not far from the manicured lawns of my suburban neighborhood. Over 100 people were stashed in a 1400 square foot house. They had no food, limited water, and feared for their life. There were kids as young as 5. I saw the footage on the news that year and immediately recognized the house. I drive by it on my way to work. The property has a beautiful orange tree up against the fence. I had often wondered if I could stop and snatch an orange or two hanging over the property line (I never did!) https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/pearland/crime-courts/article/More-than-100-people-found-in-suspected-stash-5331522.php

I felt sick to my stomach when that story broke. I drove by the house every day and over a 100 people were suffering inside. So don’t tell me that human trafficking isn’t a domestic problem and it can’t happen in broad daylight right under our noses.

Houston always ranks in the top 5 cities for human trafficking. Find more human trafficking info here. Texas is always in the top 5. Again, don’t tell me it’s not a problem.

The male flight attendant continues to gaslight me for about 15 minutes and infers that United Airlines knowingly participates in transporting separated undocumented minors and this woman is part of the ‘Global Services’ that does this.

Here’s what I learned when I landed:

Global Services is an elite invitation only status program of United Airlines. It strikes me odd that an elite flyer is at the back of the plane with me. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with transporting people! Read about Global services here: https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-global-services-in-2018/.

And then I find this statement from United Airline CEO, Oscar Munoz in June 2018. “At United Airlines, we have been concerned about reports that commercial airlines have been used to transport immigrant children separated from their parents by a newly implemented immigration enforcement policy,” he said. “Based on our serious concerns about this policy and how it’s in deep conflict with our company’s values, we have contacted federal officials to inform them that they should not transport immigrant children on United aircraft who have been separated from their parents.”

At the time, I don’t have that information or think to remember the timeline for the separations. So I simply look at this angry, angry man and say, “look if you tell me these children are with who they are supposed to be that is fine. I was concerned they were with people who don’t love them, and I think we can all say that my observation is true” and I return to my seat.

The flight lands and law enforcement board the plane. This is why he was angry. The female attendants told the captain. The captain called ahead to have them meet us. The male attendant said it “could have all been avoided” because “he knew what was going on.” Weird, shouldn’t the captain too? Maybe, maybe not I suppose.

The police officers don’t ask to speak with me and I deplane. The children and the adults are on the plane. I hang back and watch. They all exit the plane. I let them get ahead of me and I step into the restroom. As I come out, two of the girls had entered. The other two are in the stalls. The woman is in the bathroom with them. Standing at the entrance and just watching them.

Cue more uncomfortable feelings.

I will never know the answer to what was going on with those children. My heart still tells me something was wrong. So many things don’t add up. Maybe they had forged paperwork. Maybe it was a private company transporting them and not the federal government. I don’t know. The female flight attendants were awesome.

The male flight attendant was aggressive and inappropriate. It makes me wonder if he had something to gain by protecting the woman. I surround myself with people whose lives revolve around protecting children. This man was not one of my people.

This is why reporting is so hard. This is why “see something, say something” is easier said than done.

My heart was racing the whole time. I questioned myself over and over. The male flight attendant made me feel crazy. I was worried for my safety while I waited for my ride at the airport. Had I just angered an operation that could retaliate?

I stand beside my observations that day. I hope those children are safe. I hope I was not the last person to see them before they slipped into the underworld of human society. What I learned on the flight did not put me at ease. What I learned after the flight convinced me even more that something wasn’t right.

I would do it again. Children deserve to have adults protect them. No one should ever feel bad about making sure children are safe and going through the appropriate channels to do so.

See something, say something.