Almost no migrants show up in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, these days. No Mexicans from the south or people from other countries are coming to request asylum at the Agua Prieta/Douglas, Arizona Port of Entry. In addition, Border Patrol is not deporting people apprehended in the US back into Agua Prieta. There is only one family in residence at CAME, the migrant shelter. Almost no one has come to the Migrant Resource Center for assistance or even for information. Right now, the tragedy of US immigration policy is being played out elsewhere.
Yet, every Tuesday people gather in Douglas and on Zoom calls to remember those who died in the desert while crossing into Cochise County, Arizona. The Healing Our Borders Vigil, now nearing its 25th anniversary, happens every week regardless of the weather – no matter if the temperature is over 100, if it’s pouring rain, or if the wind is blowing 30 miles per hour. The vigil happens every week regardless of how many people participate – whether there are 10 or 20 or 50 people, or if there are 5 or 3 or even just 1. The vigil happens every week.
The group that comes to the vigil every week is committed to standing in solidarity with those who have died and to affirming that everyone – regardless of immigration status, race, age, sexual identity, or anything else – is a child of God. They remember that those who left their homes were heroes. They refused to stay and suffer. They looked for a new way. Yet, the people whose names are on the crosses did not make it, and most of them died a horrible death from too much heat, or too much cold, or not enough water, or from injury, or abandonment.
The hardest reality for vigil participants to recognize is their own complicity in the deaths of migrants. Because people want cheaper goods and services, migrants risk their lives coming through the desert to get low-paying jobs in the fields and orchards, or to work in hotels, nursing homes and private homes. Because people have not paid enough attention to environmental concerns, migrants are forced from their homelands from droughts or floods. Because people want the products made from extractive resources in other countries – whether minerals or timber or water – migrants are forced from their homelands by pressure from international companies and from cartel violence.
Please pray:
- Weep with the families who mourn the death of a loved one that they might find comfort.
- Give thanks that residents and visitors in Douglas and Agua Prieta continue to remember those who died in the desert.
- Pray for forgiveness as each individual examines their own complicity in these deaths.
- Commit to finding a better way.
