~ by Nuri Vallbona, Global Sisters Report
Ciudad Acuña, Mexico – Recent images of immigrants crammed under the international bridge and officers on horseback trying to grab and corral them drew outrage across the political spectrum. The threat of deportation left many migrants in limbo, too afraid to take their chances with the asylum process but stuck in Mexico without work permits to a means to support themselves.
As the number of Haitian arrivals at the border swelled, Catholic sisters, religious organizations, nonprofits and churches banded together with a common goal: provide basic services and restore human dignity.
If God has allowed these different religions, then we all need to support each other. We are all God’s children. We were all created equal, so we need to treat each other with respect,” said Sr. Ursula Herrera, a Benedictine Sister of Boerne.
On September 22, the sister joined a team of volunteers from Casa Hogar Getsemani, a Baptist orphanage in Morelos, Mexico, to pass out lemonade and more than 130 plates of hot dogs, rice, beans, tortillas and pork stew to the migrants milling around an immigration camp in Ciudad Acuña.
Throughout September, Matt Mayberry, a pastor at the Southern Baptist City Church Del Rio said he was inundated with calls from churches across the country offering to support his congregation’s efforts to feed those camped under the bridge. He estimated that volunteers handed out more than 16,000 sandwiches and snacks to immigrants and border officials until the federal government stepped into provide food.
“Our understanding of Scripture is that we were made in God’s image – all humans,” he said. “And so, regardless of our ethnicity or nationality, every human is worthy of human dignity and value. Our church and all the churches who have joined us believe the same thing.”
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