No fence is too high
The news has focused on record numbers of migrants crossing over into the United States from our southern border. Most of these migrants are entering the country legally by entering into the asylum system. The problem is that our immigration system is broken and has been for decades. It is a system that has not been overhauled since 1965. Those who are responsible for fixing the immigration laws and the broken system have failed to do their job. They choose, instead, to use the system to attack one another and demonize the immigrant.
As members of the Precious Blood family, we are called to serve those on the margins of society. These migrants are among those suffering on the margin. That is why we are promoting a just and comprehensive reform of our immigration system. We believe that the situation at the border is not merely a political problem but a gospel problem. The border communities know the reality of a broken immigration system, a system that causes so much suffering among God’s people. Only comprehensive immigration reform will bring lasting solutions.
At the border, the extreme poverty, the violence, the suffering that these people experience is like nothing we in this country can imagine. The moments of encounter with our migrant sisters and brothers can be occasions for conversion.
Bishop Kevin Seitz, bishop of the Diocese of El Paso, rejects the narrative that paints the border as a place of chaos, violence, and mayhem. He believes that many belittle the contributions of migrants and falsely report the reality of the border.
Bishop Seitz has commented that no fence is too high, as people in desperation will continue to come. Today, those coming are forced by violence, corruption, and misery to leave everything to seek a chance at a better life here in the United States.
In his pastoral letter, Sorrow and Mourning Flee Away, Bishop Seitz writes, “We belong to a Church without frontiers, a Church which considers herself mother of all. Every year, the faithful of Ciudad Juarez, Las Cruces, and El Paso come to gather to celebrate the Border Mass. We find ourselves divided by a fence or a river, by an economy of exclusion to unjust migration policies. Yet, even in the midst of all that divides us, the Border Mass is a reminder that the Eucharistic Christ is building a New Jerusalem. Our Lady of Guadalupe inspires in us a vision of the Americas (where) we take up new and prophetic actions to bring about the Kingdom of justice, truth, and reconciliation.”
Gabino Zavala, JPIC Director