At the end of a trip to the border, many visitors ask: “what can we do now?” or “how can we help?”
“I don’t have time to come and volunteer.”
“I don’t know Spanish.”
“Where can I donate some money?”
We have heard all of these questions or excuses; but, through the years, we have answered everyone the same way: go home and find the migrants in your community, and make friends with your neighbors.
And now, with the reality of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehensions in immigrant communities across the US, it is increasingly imperative that US citizens make friends with all their neighbors.
Just last month we saw people doing just that as we traveled to the US states of Washington, Oregon, and California, to present the documentary film Exodus, which is about why people have left the Mexican state of Guerrero and how CAME, the migrant shelter in Agua Prieta, Sonora, supported those migrants.
In Washington we visited with people who are teaching English classes, accompanying immigrants to court hearings, and supporting immigrant businesses. In Oregon, people are participating in neighborhood rapid response networks to witness ICE apprehensions. One group is taking meals to farm workers in the fields and visiting each other and eating together. Volunteers are standing watch in the parking lot of their church while the Hispanic congregation worships inside. In California people are participating in advocacy efforts to change government policies that harm immigrants.
- Give thanks for all these efforts to support immigrants.
- Look for ways to participate in your community.
- Pray that even more people in the US will walk the streets, stand in witness, speak truth to power, and make friends with their neighbors.
