On Christmas, 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gomez died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Alonzo-Gomez, who had traveled from Guatemala before he was detained along with his father, is the second child to die in the custody of border patrol this month.
The federal government is six days into a partial shutdown. President Donald Trump has said he will veto any funding bill that does not include $5 billion for a border wall.
While the Trump administration has said the wall is necessary to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking, many faith leaders who live along the border see things differently.
“The idea of a wall is absurd,” said the Rev. Julio López, the director of Casa del Migrante in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. “The Berlin wall fell, why are we thinking about more walls?”
Father López echoed a comment Pope Francis made as he returned from his pastoral visit to Mexico. When asked about the border wall, he said, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges is not Christian. This is not the Gospel.”
“We have to build bridges, bridges of humanity before walls,” Father López said. “Barriers already exist, be they cultural barriers or socio-political barriers that often separate us. Many times they are instruments of discrimination. So with all that, why do we need more barriers?”
“The idea of a wall is absurd,” said the Rev. Julio López, the director of Casa del Migrante in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. “The Berlin wall fell, why are we thinking about more walls?”
Nevertheless, Benjamin de la Garza, the executive director of Catholic Charities in Laredo, Tex., recognized the need for border security. Catholic Charities and other faith-based organizations work with immigration enforcement to care for newly arrived asylum seekers.
“We want to prevent drugs and we do want to prevent all the illegal activity that goes on across the border and across the river,” he said.
In Laredo, detention centers are full and there are too few immigration judges, Mr. de la Garza said. While immigrants and asylum seekers wait for the cases to be decided, Catholic Charities and other groups step in to help.
The Holding Institute, a United Methodist outreach in Laredo, provides shelter to those in need, including immigrants and asylum seekers. Pastor Mike Smith, who directs the center, said he is often criticized for his outreach. They are the only shelter in Laredo that accepts families with children.
“I have a lot of people ask me, ‘Why are you doing this? You shouldn’t be doing this. It’s unethical. It’s illegal. It’s immoral,’” he said. “I say, ‘Look, I cannot in good conscience allow myself to have children or mothers with children or fathers with children sleeping in the streets. It’s unconscionable.’”
The immigration issue, including this federal budget impasse, can be a complicated subject, but Pastor Smith said the Christian response can be simple.
“God’s will for us is to serve others—love your neighbor as yourself,” he said. “Our neighbor’s face is changing daily. I believe that it is our responsibility to serve our neighbor first. You can ask all the questions you want later. But our responsibility is to meet them at their point of need, which could very well be through a simple act of kindness.”
This article appears in January 21 2019.
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