The immigrant caravan is a moving ridge of hope for America

Nov 3, 2018

When the caravan of migrants from Honduras reaches the U.s.-Mexico border, it will exam the truth of our American values and the credibility of our Catholic social justice teachings. The caravan started on October 13 in the offense ridden Honduran urban center of San Pedro Sula, and later migrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala joined them. Approximately ii,300 of them are children. At present in that location are 3 caravans. This tertiary caravan is of mothers in search of their children who went missing in the process of migrating to the United states of america.

In light of the mission of the mothers, information technology is worth remembering the office of the current administration's policies and practices that add to the ranks of lost children. Lucila, a young single mother, came to our land without papers and at the detention middle, in an human activity of unimaginable cruelty, officials violently ripped her six-calendar month-one-time babe from her arms. She waited eight months before she was reunited with her baby. Imagine the torture of separation for this young mother.

A immature pregnant woman from Guatemala kept request for medical assistance at a detention shelter, just each time was denied aid. Her vulnerable baby was built-in with complications and immediately taken to a local hospital and placed in intensive care. The female parent was returned to the detention center in handcuffs. No kid should have to begin life in such traumatic circumstances.

Months afterward a court lodge requiring the reunification of children with their families, hundreds of immigrant youth remain separated from their parents in US detention facilities.

Now the Pentagon is preparing to send over v,200 active duty troops to the edge to prevent the caravan from crossing into the United States. At that place are already over ii,000 Edge Patrol agents and the aforementioned number of National Guard troops deployed at one of the most militarized borders in the world. With these accumulated forces, the border will have more troops than the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Unregulated armed militias are likewise planning to come to the border.

This calendar week, border patrol agents in anarchism gear began exercise drills to set for the caravan. Some of my parishioners tell me that they voted for this president because he claims to be pro-life. Sending the United States military to scare innocent families with babies who are seeking a meliorate life for their children is not pro-life. Dispatching the most powerful police force enforcement and military force in the world to face harmless immigrants struggling to survive is cruel, inhumane and evil.

During this mid-term election cycle, the White House and complicit politicians are demonizing and spreading lies about the caravan of refugees for political proceeds in social club to gratify a base already pre-tending against immigrants. At political rallies mobs holler "build the wall," their rage fueled by anti-immigrant rhetoric. These politicians mischaracterize immigrants with their fearmongering, creating a toxic climate that stokes detest, xenophobia and racism. Even some in the media perpetuate the criminalization of migrants and refugees. Overwhelmingly, these immigrants are not criminals or terrorists, merely they are regarded as indistinguishable and disposable.

Immigrants are made in the image and likeness of God and deserve to be treated with respect grounded in the dignity of our shared humanity. Words against immigrants matter, and detest spoken communication has dangerous consequences. They stir the darkest forces of nativism, white supremacy and prejudice — often times masquerading as patriotism. The greater danger for our land is the normalization of this hate, which reinforces an "united states of america vs. them" mentality that further polarizes communities.

Immigrants are not the problem, and the caravan does not present a crisis or a national emergency. Root causes for gimmicky responses deserve deeper exploration. Unjust and unequal merchandise agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA are detrimental to the survival of those who are impoverished. Decades of U.S. interventions in Central American countries supporting oppressive regimes and decadent governments helped foster ongoing cycles of violence. Migrants and refugees abscond their homelands in search of a sustainable life for their families beyond the reach of drug cartels, poverty and the negative effects of climate modify.

In the U.South. nosotros have to cease blaming immigrants for the social and economical bug of our own country. Our real crises are moral ones: the growing gap between the rich and the poor; wage theft from regular workers; politicians capitulating to wealthy corporations and lobbyists; scandalous bonuses and exorbitant pay for CEOs; the backdoor machinations of Wall Street; the amount of wealth it takes to run for elections.

Economists and several studies conclude that immigrants do not accept jobs abroad from Americans, they create jobs. They contribute more to the economy than the authorities services they utilize. And they accept the everyman crime rate in the nation. They are not a threat to our country, in fact they uphold treasured American values, affectionate hard work, freedom and economical opportunities. This is why the arrival of more immigrants should not be a cause for concern just a hope of a better United States of America.

From a Catholic perspective, this caravan is a modernistic-24-hour interval migrant homo rights movement. Information technology is a wave of hope for our neighbors in hopeless situations. These migrants are challenging our U.Due south. Catholic communities to get out of our comfort and ideological zones, to enquire profound questions most the bear upon of our lifestyles in relation to their sufferings. Answers come up from our solidarity and option with and for the poorest and most vulnerable. These sisters and brothers of ours are asking us to see the earth through their struggles, their fears and their dreams.

Our faith calls u.s.a. to a solidarity that is not neutral to the plight of struggling immigrants, otherwise nosotros allow the voices of detest to obstruct and dominate the stories of their hopes. The bonds of solidarity we preach expects united states of america to enter their pain, listen deeply to their stories and encompass their dreams. Such solidarity becomes transformative in our own spiritual lives, inspiring us to see the globe beyond oppression, pain, and suffering; encouraging united states to believe in a hereafter of compassion, mercy, kindness and justice; converting us from racism, xenophobia and violence.

In this solidarity we are able to recognize that the immigrants' search goes beyond achieving the American dream, but it is an invitation to participate in the building of the reign of God with openness to get-go afresh in liberty, to care for the earth as sacred, to aggrandize families without fear and to live in gratitude to God for a future filled with divine graces.

These caravan journeys are almost mystical in their full trust in the presence of an accompanying God. These prophetic journeys telephone call united states to an active promise, to transform our love into political action for the common good of all, to seek just solutions to complex, transnational human being struggles. Nosotros can march to legislative offices to promote comprehensive immigration reform. We tin support efforts at developing merely and functional US-Fundamental American economic programs that brainstorm by addressing the needs of the poor, of farmers, of women and of children.

Simply most chiefly, we need to stand in solidarity with a movement of promise in and beyond the Americas that is affirming the rights of the marginalized and poor to take theirrightful place in our diverse club. Our solidarity with caravans of migrants will show the states that America can ascent to a higher place smallness and exist ameliorate. This solidarity celebrates that in all things hope wins.

[Monsignor Arturo J. Bañuelas is currently the pastor of St. Mark's Parish in the diocese of El Paso, Texas. A Latino theologian and founder and chair of the Promise Border Institute, he is widely recognized and honored for his advocacy and work on issues of migration and justice at the border.]

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