By Elket Rodríguez Prompted by COVID-19, desperation is starting to sink into refugee camps on the border. Some immigrants are leaving the camps, others are moving to shelters, but not many are taking buses to Mexico’s southern border to return to their home countries. Worse, some are thinking about sending their children to enter the United States unaccompanied. This is the somber humanitarian tragedy of the … Continue reading
Por Elket Rodríguez Impulsado por COVID-19, la desesperación está comenzando a inundar los campos de refugiados en la frontera. Algunos inmigrantes abandonan los campamentos, otros se mudan a refugios y no muchos toman autobuses hacia la frontera sur de México para regresar a sus países de origen. Peor aún, algunos están pensando en enviar a sus hijos a Estados Unidos solos, … Continue reading
The CBF Advocacy Action Team for Immigrants and Refugees is urging elected leaders to protect the health and safety of the vulnerable immigrant and refugee community and is calling on Cooperative Baptists and other Christians to advocate for specific policies to ensure their protection amid the COVID-19 global pandemic. Continue reading
The global COVID-19 Pandemic has impacted virtually every community in the United States. Of course, some communities are far more vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19 than others. The immigrant community on the southern border of the United States is certainly one of these communities that is vulnerable to the public health and societal impacts … Continue reading
By Marv Knox Compassion and concern, faith and fear, respect and resolve crackled across the country as pastors who comprise Fellowship Southwest’s ministry to asylum seekers talked on the phone March 25. They spent almost two hours telling each other about their work with refugees on the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as their concerns for … Continue reading
By Marv Knox NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO—Lorenzo Ortiz, a Texas pastor who operates three immigrant shelters in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, stayed behind when the U.S. and Mexican governments closed the border to all “nonessential” travel at midnight Saturday, March 21. Mutual concern about the transmission of COVID-19 led U.S. and Mexican policymakers to shut down border … Continue reading
By Elket Rodríguez Imagine your parents decided to immigrate to another country when you were a kid. They immigrated to protect you. It was a choice made out of love. The circumstances in your country of origin were so desperate your parents decided it wasn’t unreasonable to risk the travel to come to the United … Continue reading
By Marv Knox An intriguing and disconcerting message popped up on my telephone screen late last week. “I just got out from the meeting in Juarez … talking about the MPP changes,” wrote Rosalio Sosa, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Tierra de Oro in El Paso and leader of Fellowship Southwest’s efforts to minister to asylum … Continue reading
By Fellowship Southwest Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Advocacy, CBF Global Missions and Fellowship Southwest are collaborating to place Elket Rodríguez, an attorney with extensive experience in immigration law, on their team on the U.S.-Mexico border. Rodríguez, a native of Puerto Rico who lives and practices law in Harlingen, Texas, will become CBF’s immigrant and refugee specialist … Continue reading
By Marv Knox BROWNSVILLE, Texas—Construction of an immigrant respite center at Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville is moving forward, thanks to a Christmas miracle of generosity. IB West Brownsville ministers to refugees who pass through Matamoros, Mexico, as they seek asylum in the United States. The U.S. immigration policy requires asylum seekers to “wait in place” … Continue reading