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Confusion, distrust and hope at the border: "We have to wait, and it could be good for some and bad for others"

2022-12-19T16:59:16.587Z


Religious leaders assist hundreds of migrants in shelters at the limit of their capacity: "It is impossible to help everyone, but who are we to limit the grace of God?"


GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO -

The Associated Press

Dozens of people lined up in two long lines to receive blessings from two Catholic priests who visited the Casa del Migrante in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, just across the Rio Grande from Texas, to celebrate mass last week.

After the service, several migrants crowded around the three Jesuits to ask about changes to US asylum policy, which will end Title 42 on December 21, which may result in even more people trying to cross the border. Mexican border, adding to already historically high numbers.

"All of you will be able to cross at some point," the Rev. Brian Strassburger told the nearly 100 attendees at the Spanish Mass as a Haitian migrant translated into Creole. "Our hope is that with this change, it means less time. My advice is Please be patient," he added.

[“We want to make sure they are treated with dignity”: El Paso declares a state of emergency due to the arrival of migrants]

Priests Brian Strassburger (left) and Flavio Bravo, at the Casa del Migrante in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

on December 15, 2022. Giovanna Dell'Orto / AP

It is increasingly difficult to convey that message of hope and patience, not only for Strassburger but also for the Catholic nuns who run the shelter and the leaders of numerous religious organizations who have long assumed much of the care for tens of thousands of migrants. on both sides of the border.

The immigrants in the shelters, mostly from Haiti, but also from Central and South America, are deeply mistrustful of the news and rumors about the border.

A judge ordered in November that the measure known as Title 42, which allows the government to return most asylum seekers, ends Wednesday.

El Paso, in Texas, has declared a state of emergency due to the foreseeable arrival of thousands of migrants.

But religious leaders working on the border are wary of what's to come.

They expect tensions to continue to rise if the government imposes new restrictions to stop that exodus.

And if not, they will struggle to house increasing numbers of new arrivals in already overcapacity shelters and relocate them quickly in a volatile political environment.

This is how the southern border of the United States is preparing for the end of Title 42

Dec 16, 202200:29

“People come because there is little left for the bridge to open.

But I don't think the United States is going to say, 'OK, everyone welcome!'” said the Rev. Hector Silva. The evangelical pastor has 4,200 migrants crammed into his two Reynosa shelters, and more are already waiting at his doors.

Pregnant women, who make up a large percentage of migrants in shelters, have the best chance of legally entering the United States to claim asylum.

It takes up to three weeks on average to be released from detention centers on humanitarian parole.

Families wait up to eight weeks and single adults can take three months, Strassburger explained at the Casa del Migrante, where she travels from her Texas parish to celebrate Mass twice a week.

Last week, the shelter housed nearly 300 people, mostly women and children, in cramped bunk beds with mats between them.

The men wait in the streets, exposed to cartel violence, said Sister Maria Tello, who runs the Casa del Migrante.

[Job and Housing Shortage: How the Historic Arrival of Cuban Immigrants is Impacting Florida]

“Our challenge is to be able to serve all those who continue to come, so that they find a place worthy of them.

Twenty leave and 30 enter.

And there are many outside that we cannot help,” explained Tello, a Sisters of Mercy nun.

Edimar Valera, 23, fled Venezuela with his family, including his two-year-old daughter.

They crossed the notoriously dangerous Darien Gap, where Valera nearly drowned and died of starvation.

After arriving in Reynosa and escaping a kidnapping, he found refuge at Casa del Migrante, where he has been since November despite having a sponsor 10 miles away in McAllen, Texas.

“We have to wait, and it could be good for some and bad for others.

You don't know what to do,” he said, finding some comfort in Mass and daily prayers, where he asks God for help and patience.

There is also Eslande, 31, who left Haiti for Chile.

She is on her second attempt to cross into the United States after failing to find adequate help for her youngest son's learning disability.

At Casa del Migrante she read the Gospel aloud in Creole during Mass, a reminder of happier times when her father distributed Communion.

“I have faith that I will go in,” he said in the Spanish he learned along the way.

Like many immigrants, he only gave his name out of fear.

El Paso decrees a state of emergency before the impressive crossing of migrants from Mexico

Dec 18, 202200:25

Sister Norma Pimentel, a prominent immigrant rights advocate who helped migrants cross the border four decades ago and now runs Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, said religious people should push for centrist reform to help migrants, not turn them into political pawns.

“The policies do not respond to the realities we face,” said Pimentel, who opened the welcome center in 2014 for the first big wave of asylum this century.

“It is impossible to help everyone,” he explained, “but who are we to limit God's grace?”

Now the busiest crossing is about 800 miles away in El Paso, Texas, and neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Ronny, 26, turned himself in to US authorities there and was flown to McAllen because "Juárez was collapsing," he said last week at the Pimentel shelter.

He and his family left Venezuela on foot in September because they opposed the regime and his salary was too low to buy food.

He has an immigration appointment next month in New York, where his sponsor lives, but he has no money to get there.

On her first night off in the United States, she turned to God, following Mass from a distance so as not to leave the thin mat where her children slept.

“We ask God for everything.

Always,” he said.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-12-19

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