By CLUE Executive Director, Reverend Jennifer Gutierrez
Hannah Arendt coined the phrase “banality of evil” when she was covering the Adolf Eichmann trial in 1961. Eichmann was a senior member of the Nazi party and a primary perpetrator of Hitler’s so-called Final Solution. What impressed Arendt during the trial was that Eichmann seemed primarily motivated by mundane concerns like career advancement. He didn’t appear to be the demonic fanatic that many had been expecting. This observation led Arendt to a larger realization, that average people could get caught up in evil systems, and by simply closing themselves off to larger concerns or questions, could become an instrumental part in a violent, destructive, truly evil system.
CLUE had a “banality of evil” experience this morning. One of our fearless volunteers went to try to post bond for a man that has been in detention for 2 ½ months. He had been kidnapped at work at a car wash and was referred to us by our partner the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center. A judge had just granted him bond yesterday. We gathered all the necessary paperwork, checking all the boxes that we’ve learned from our previous bond paying attempts. I personally went to the bank branch to get the cashiers check and handed it off to our fearless volunteer who was going to post the bond this morning. Everything seemed to be in order until the clerk noticed that the remitter name on the check didn’t match the ID of the volunteer paying the bond. Of course it didn’t! Not all of our volunteers that are trained to post bonds are signers on our account!
Because of this clerical “error” this man will have to remain in detention for at least another day. His family will spend another sleepless night worrying about him.
So what do we do in the face of evil, especially evil systems that rely on everyday people to keep doing their jobs without thinking about the consequences?
We persist, and we continue to offer care.
We persist. Our volunteer will be back tomorrow, hopefully this time with all of the boxes checked for real. But if they find another error, someone will go back the next day. We will persist.
And we will continue to offer care. Over 180 CLUE volunteers have been signing up for shifts to do court observations in both the LA and Orange County immigration courts. One of these volunteers told me that she had witnessed several instances of teenagers showing up to court by themselves. She talked about a particular young man that had been given a list of papers and evidence to gather by himself before his next hearing. She approached the boy after his hearing, introduced herself, and asked if he had a safe womanly figure in his life, maybe an auntie or a grandmother that he wished were with him. He said yes. Then, she asked if she could represent that woman in that moment, would it be ok for her to give him a hug and he could imagine she was his auntie.
This story of care both breaks my heart, and gives me hope.
Thank you for all the ways you are persisting in resisting evil, and thank you for all of the ways you continue to care for one another and for the vulnerable people you encounter.
Addendum September 4, 2025
The CLUE volunteer referenced above did return and was successful in posting the bond for the Carwashero on Sept. 3. On Thursday, Sept. 4, he was on his way home to his family!
Also on Sept. 4, we attempted to post three more bonds. One was successful on the first try! We’ll need to check back in on the second one tomorrow because the process didn’t complete before the court office closed. For the third one, DHS is reserving their right to appeal the bond. They have 10 days to do so. We’ll be back on Sept. 15 to try to pay that same bond again.
I praise God for the persistence and care of our CLUE volunteers. Please join me in prayer for the many people waiting in detention as this process plays out.