A couple thoughts on the Migrant Caravan moving through Central American and Mexico toward our border…-
My heart is heavy and saddened as I watch so many compassionate people talk about this group of human beings in such dehumanizing ways. I understand the fear. Of course we need to protect our children. I get that we have limited resources. Yes, migrants have to enter the country legally. I just don’t think these concerns are near as connected to this migrant caravan as they are to our collective enslavement to fear and misinformation. Rather than be moved by a commitment to understand and care for the “least and the last” we are being stirred into a frenzy of self-protection that is compromising our collective soul. It’s sad. But we can be healed.
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Many of you may remember the last Migrant Caravan that got alot of news a couple years ago. I was there in Tijuana to welcome them when they stepped off the bus. Who did I meet? Exhausted and scared grandma’s, momma’s, daddy’s, babies and young kids traveling alone holding out a sliver of hope that they might have a future worth living for. This wasn’t a community of people that WANTED to flee their countries…they had no choice. No one would want to go on the journey they are on. Months of jumping on buses, trains, walking with kids on their back, corrupt police and gangs exploiting their vulnerability. 80% of women who go on this journey are sexually exploited in some way. As to this caravan, if women know they can travel with the protection of a group, of course, they are going to do that. THEY ARE NOT COMING TO TAKE AWAY THE AMERICAN DREAM. They are simply trying to have a chance at life.
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Some might say, “But they should come legally!” Yes, they should. And they are. They are coming to our southern border to walk through the port of entry and seek asylum. That is NOT ILLEGAL, but a central function to the core values of the United States. Now, there are always some who are so desperate (and often misguided by organized crime) that they try to cross the border illegally. Whether some in this caravan choose to do that, I have no idea, but having sat with migrants considering an illegal crossing, I can assure you it is not something they want to do…it is pure desperation.
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If we are going to engage with this crisis with any kind of integrity and humanity (not to mention faith convictions that require us to care for the foreigner/stranger), we have to ask WHY they are migrating in the first place. What is it they are running from? What could be so bad that they are literally having to choose which children to take and which to leave behind? I’ve talked to mothers of multiple children who had to flee violence in Central American and were forced to CHOOSE which kids could actually make the journey and which couldn’t. They knew this was their ONLY chance of survival and hoped to one day send for the ones they had to leave behind. The level of despair and heartbreak in their eyes is indescribable. A simple study of the history of Central America will not only give us hints as to what these people are fleeing, it will point a finger back at ourselves as participants in the destabilization of the region back in the 1980’s. Violence and economic desperation don’t come out of nothing. We have to become students who ask the story behind the story behind the story. The fact that our administration is threatening these countries by taking away funding is short sighted and will only perpetuate the instability.
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No number of talking points will change our hearts and minds. We have to get close to those in crisis. We need to be in proximity. We need to share tables and stories. And, in a country filled with immigrants, we can. We just have to choose love over fear and curiosity over critique. Let’s allow relationship to lead the way and the Spirit to guide our steps. For those of us who follow Jesus, let’s remember that he didn’t call us to be safe, he called us to be faithful. Now is our time.
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