The journey continues...

We began our day at the Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services office with Ana Hey, an Immigration Lawyer. Last year 22,000 were detained by Immigration & Customs (I.C.E.) Enforcement but her office could only serve 160 cases with only 3 attorneys, less than 1% of those detained. This year with the "Child Separation"" Policy of the U.S. government, they have received a grant so they could hire up to 12 more attorneys to serve all the families  seeking asylum due to the violence and extreme poverty they are experiencing in their home countries, like Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. 

What many people don't understand is that Asylum is a legal way to enter the U.S. and all one needs to do is to present themselves to a Border Patrol Agent at the border to be granted entry and then go through the Immigration Courts to determine the merit of their case. What happens instead is that persons, who have done nothing more than flee for their lives with their children, are treated as criminals and are placed in detention centers and given less than someone found guilty of a crime. Many of the detention centers are for profit and there is a strong prison lobby to keep these centers open to profit this "industry" of human imprisonment and therefore little incentive to make this situation different.

Some ask why don't these people who are displaced from their homes in Central America just go to Mexico. The truth is that Mexico has not been recognized by the International community as a safe country to claim Asylum. We need to remember that people would rather be in their own country, their own culture on their own land. 

Ana Hey & Nazareth students

From here we  met with two Border Patrol officers, what a juxtaposition of messages!

Both officers are clear about their duty and oath to protect the U.S. border. Yet they were able to tell us that they are finding over their 15-16 year career the changes they have seen in who they are finding attempting o cross our southern border. When they began their careers, those crossing illegally were mostly single men seeking employment in the U.S. and now they are family units seeking Asylum from Central America. We asked what do you feel you need to do your job well? And they responded with, "Yes we need a barrier and we need more technology and more Border Patrol Agents." And then they added, and we need to fix our "Immigration Policy."  Something we can all agree on!

Cristo Rey Clinic

We then returned to Juarez to visit with Dr. San Juan Mendoza and the Cristo Rey Clinic, where she has lived and worked in solidarity with the people in this Colonia of Juarez for the last 20 years. She practices "Social Medicine" meaning she treats the whole person, including offering health education. She relies on "Divine Providence" and generous donors to keep her clinic operating.

                                                              Danica an aspiring physician and Dr. Mendoza

From here we went to Casa Tabor where we met Sr. Betty Campbell RSM & Peter Hindes, O.Carm. They have both spent their lives living with and accompanying people throughout Latin America. They started CRISPAZ, an organization they served people in El Salvador. I first connected with CRISPAZ in 1986 when I visited two dear friends, Sonata Bohen & George Plage, who  served with CRISPAZ in the refugee camps in LaLibertad, El Salvador during the Civil War. I again went to El Salvador in 2006 with our Sister, Mary Jane Mitchell SSJ, who served with CRISPAZ following the earthquake in El Salvador. It was with deep gratitude that I was able to meet these faithful servants, who continue to accompany the people in this Colonia of Juarez. Much of their work today is to bring attention to the vilence happening there, especially to women. 

Here is Betty's handwritten account of all the deaths since 1993 that she gives to every group that visits Tabor House.

Betty has created a kind of "Memorial" for all the journalists, women and men murdered in their area and invites guests to write a name on the memorial  and to take a name to pray for.

                                                                       Martyrs Memorial Wall

Jamie Fazio  writing a name on the memorial.

For our supper this night, our meal was made by a refugee named Elizabeth. Nine years earlier her 14 yo son went to the police to report a murder he had seen committed in his small town in Mexico. As a result of this report, a truck full of 10-12 men went to his house and shot everyone. Killing her brother, sister-in law, and cousin and leaving her for dead with 5 bullet wounds.

She spent 4 months recovering in Juarez hospitals & El Paso. Fortunately her son, daughter and husband survived and are seeking permanent residence in the U.S. which has not been easy, despite her near death experience and the death of so many loved ones.

To be continued....

Columban Center Border Awareness Experience

I am grateful to be back in El PAso, on a different kind of mission. Our little group of 13 from Nazareth College arrived in El PAso late Saturday night to be greeted by Fr. Bob Mosher, from the Columban Mission Center. He will host  us for the week both in. El Paso & Juarez. 

Through the Columban Mission Center in El Paso, Texas, we will meet with organizations and institutions related to U.S./Mexico border issues — poverty, migration and human rights.

Our first stop on Sunday morning was Parroquia Corpus Christi in Anapra. Mexico. It was great to see Fr. Bill Martin whom I had met when I was in El PAso last time.

After Mass we met in the community center of the parish with a number of youth and volunteers from the parish to hear their stories about working in the factories in Juarez as a result of NAFTA. One of the outcomes of that treaty was for U.S. companies to set up border factories and hire people who were poor and pay them poor wages to benefit the company with no benefits and hard work and no ability to negotiate better working conditions and wages.One man told us he has worked 20 years in the factory and makes the same amount of money as the day he started but he is afraid to say anything because he could lose his job and not be able to feed his family.

Another challenge is because the pay is so poor many times families encourage their children to leave school and not go on to higher ed in order to work in one of these factories and contribute to the family finances; and the cycle of poverty just continues.

Something to note, the workers in the factories do piece work and the items are assembled in the U.S. so labels can say "Made in America". Whereas they should say, with the help of slave labor in Mexico!

We then went to the Library of the Good Shepherd which was started 20 years by Cristina. She is a woman who with less than a grammar school education herself and realized that the children in Anapra, a very poor suburb in Juarez, were doomed to continue a cycle of poverty without a decent education. The challenges were extreme poverty that kept parents from paying school fees, buy uniforms, buy books, etc. In addition, many children had no birth certificates because parents couldn't pay those costs and therefore the children were unable to even enroll for school.

With the help of the Columban Fathers, the Sisters of Charity I stayed with in December and their many connections, Cristina was able to help finance these needs, offer tutoring and on-going support to the children. She began with 12 children and today over 475 children have been helped through this little sign of hope. Today there are nurses and teachers, etc. giving back to the community because of Cristina. Never underestimate the vision of one and the help of many, especially God!

Please pray for all these wonderful people and their efforts to bring about justice. Please pray for our little group as we begin a new day here on the border.

In peace & gratitude,

Sr. Donna