{"id":2922,"date":"2012-12-21T13:10:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-21T21:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=2922"},"modified":"2012-12-21T13:10:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T21:10:30","slug":"umns-home-for-christmas-not-for-border-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/umns-home-for-christmas-not-for-border-families\/","title":{"rendered":"UMNS: Home for Christmas? Not for border families"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amanda M. Bachus*<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you cry?\u201d I ask Nancy, a young woman who sits on a ledge, at El Faro, a small Tijuana border park. Women, present for a\u00a0Posadas event<\/a>, share their stories through loudspeakers by the tall fence that divides the United States and Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you crying?\u201d I repeat. \u201cDo you have family in the U.S.?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she says, \u201cI have four children, and they all are American citizens, and they are in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are they with?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother is taking care of them,\u201d Nancy replies. \u201cI, too, lived in the U.S. for 27 years, and I am here now, stuck and no place to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Download: QuickTime (MP4)<\/a> | Windows Media (WMV)<\/a>
\nView slideshow: Hope and despair at the border<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Nancy was deported to Honduras because of a minor traffic infraction. But she couldn\u2019t stay in Honduras; she had to try to go back to her children. She dared to ride \u201cThe Beast<\/a>,\u201d a freight train that immigrants \u201ccatch\u201d to ride through Central America into Mexico and the United States, if they make it in one piece.<\/p>\n

Nancy endured the awful trip before arriving in Tijuana. Now, she is homeless and fearing local authorities who can deport her if they find out she is not Mexican. The night before, she slept at the beach. She sits by the border fence, sobbing inconsolably, while she listens to other deported mothers speak about their ordeal.<\/p>\n

Invited by the\u00a0Rev. Saul Montiel<\/a>, a missionary with the United Methodist\u00a0Board of Global Ministries<\/a>, my colleagues and I, fromUnited Methodist Communications<\/a>, have traveled to Tijuana. We\u2019ve come to attend\u00a0Posadas at the Border<\/a>, a bi-national ecumenical event that since 1993 has taken place around Christmas at the border between San Diego and Tijuana.<\/p>\n

Every Sunday, worshippers gather on both sides of the border. On the U.S. side, whose gates open only for a few hours, the Rev. John Fanestil serves Holy Communion. A United Methodist minister, Fanistil, heads the\u00a0Foundation for Change<\/a>, a non-profit organization in San Diego. Both Montiel and Fanestil provide church services and break the bread together every Sunday for those who come to the fence. They pray for better circumstances and for removal of the thick double mesh that covers the designed area allowed for family meetings, yet prevents touching and embracing. They pray for justice and\u00a0immigration<\/a>\u00a0reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Bordo\u201d in Tijuana<\/h3>\n
\n
\"Rogelio<\/a>
Rogelio Escobar (left) joins a line of men seeking aid near “El Bordo,” along the Tijuana River in Tijuana, Mexico.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hundreds of men gather at El Bordo waiting for something to happen. They hope for food, handouts, maybe a job offer or news of an opportunity to cross over. As our team approaches, they rush toward our van. They think we are distributing food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hungry!\u201d they shout. I want to hear the plight of these men, but it is difficult to talk to them as they quickly surround us. They all speak, but only a few are willing to appear on camera or talk to us. One of them, fluent in English, says he is from the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I can\u2019t talk to you,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to appear on camera. I feel shame and embarrassment for having to live like this, to be in this condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is overwhelming, and I cannot do anything for them. I can only reach out and listen. They seem to appreciate it.<\/p>\n

Soon, a few venture toward me and start telling me their painful struggle with the locals. \u201cIt\u2019s our country, but they don\u2019t want us here,\u201d one man says. \u201cThey treat us like garbage.\u201d They fear the Mexican police. \u201cThey arrest us, take our papers, stealing the little money we receive from our families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Christmas, and we can\u2019t be over there with our children!\u201d one shouts in English. He is angry and frustrated and doesn\u2019t want to talk. Later he tells me, \u201cAll pretend to help, but they don\u2019t. They only want to appear on TV, especially those officials and the Christians! They don\u2019t do nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of these men speak English. They grew up in the United States, but they don\u2019t have papers and are gradually becoming homeless.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t expect to encounter helpless humanity who are losing the little dignity left in them. They are individuals of all ages and gender separated from their families by deportation. They cannot go anywhere else, but must stay in Tijuana, the nearest border point that connects them to their families. They have nowhere to go but north. It is beyond sad.<\/p>\n

United Methodists families separated<\/h3>\n

The separation is also cruel to family members left behind in the United States. Some are members of\u00a0Manantial de Vida y Luz United Methodist Church<\/a>\u00a0in Escondido, Calif. I hear from Virginia and Roc\u00edo, two young women whose husbands were deported. The women are on their own, with two children each, and must fend for themselves. Their church, they tell me, is the only thing that sustains them spiritually and sometimes financially with help from the congregation.<\/p>\n

But for Francisco Armeta, 18 and a recent high school graduate, life has hit hard because his mother was deported. She left behind four half brothers and sisters, for whom Armeta must care. He cannot go to college because he is busy working two jobs as a cleaning company supervisor and as a restaurant chef. He cannot enjoy sports or hang out with friends as other 18-year-olds do. He is already an adult.<\/p>\n

Two weekends a month, he crosses the border into Mexico to visit his mother and to make sure she is doing OK. He doesn\u2019t want her to become homeless like many others, so he helps her financially.<\/p>\n

Armeta longs to hear his mother nagging at him. He cannot hear her now, and that breaks his heart. \u201cKids shouldn\u2019t complain about their mothers nagging, because you don\u2019t know it until you don\u2019t have her around you,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This young man is an important member of the church, says\u00a0Ruben Torres<\/a>, pastor of Manantial de Vida y Luz Church. He is in charge of the sound system and attends worship, despite his busy life.<\/p>\n

Torres\u2019 heart is also broken. \u201cWe are dying, little by little, with our people,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are not bad people; the people are good people. I can\u2019t blame the United States for doing their job, but we need a reform. We need the governments in Latin America to open up jobs for their people, so they don\u2019t have to risk everything to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He teaches his congregation how to give. They are collecting money at Christmas to take it to Tijuana. \u201cWe receive, and we need to give to others,\u201d Torres explains. He is grateful for First United Methodist Church of Escondido with whom they share facilities. More than 200 people gather for the Spanish Sunday services.<\/p>\n

Return to Nashville<\/h3>\n
\n
\"Mothers<\/a>
Mothers who are separated from their families in the U.S. cry at the Mexican side of the border wall between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, during the Posada Without Borders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we are about to leave the Posadas at El Faro, I ask Guillermo, our driver, \u201cCan you do anything for Nancy?\u201d He contacts the nuns, and they have a space for her. I am relieved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There are not enough shelters for all of the people stranded at the border. The Catholic Church has opened shelters for women and children. The Salvation Army helps the men, if they have space. The United Methodist missionary takes health kits as often as he can. He wants to do more.<\/p>\n

Staff photographer Mike DuBose and I go back to Friendship Park on our last day in Mexico. It\u2019s closed, and we have to walk for about a mile. The park on the U.S. side of the border is empty. We see a giant surveillance tower with security cameras. We spot one border patrol nearby. We observe the empty park. Mike takes more photos, and we walk toward the beach. Waves crash on the empty beach as a flock of seagulls bask in the sun. More patrol units rush to the beach area where we stand.<\/p>\n

We see people on the other side of the fence, just looking over. I turn toward the Pacific Ocean, and I cry.<\/p>\n\n

*Bachus is editor of Spanish resources at United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn.<\/p>\n

News media contact: Amanda Bachus, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or\u00a0newsdesk@umcom.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amanda M. Bachus* \u201cWhy do you cry?\u201d I ask Nancy, a young woman who sits on a ledge, at El Faro, a small Tijuana border park. Women, present for a\u00a0Posadas event, share their stories through loudspeakers by the tall fence that divides the United States and Mexico. \u201cWhy are you crying?\u201d I repeat. \u201cDo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":2932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[157,3],"tags":[148,158,31,166],"class_list":{"0":"post-2922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-immigration","8":"category-umns","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-immigration-2","11":"tag-umns","12":"tag-wall"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/UMNS-immigration.jpg?fit=600%2C403&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-L8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2922"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2938,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions\/2938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}