At the Border - El Paso

It is Thursday and this 6th and final Posting is from my room at the Leo House in New York City. It is good to be home; to revel in the noise of the fire trucks, ambulances, street conversations and all the energy and diversity of the Big Apple. Worlds away from El Paso.

I am grateful for so many individuals and things:

• for our CSA leadership which approved and supported my volunteer commitment in El Paso.
• for my local community at the Leo House which “picked up the slack” during my absence.
• for all of you who as individuals, as local communities and families sent Chapstick, socks, undies and shoelaces for use by the guests.
• for the support given via texts, cards, phone calls and especially prayer.

What was before a rarity, a US postal service truck, became commonplace. He would arrive with more than 1 box on a regular basis. So, to quote William Shakespeare, “I can no other answer make, but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks!”

It is also true that while I, Pat, was physically present in El Paso, “We, the Sisters of Saint Agnes” were present.

When I named my religious community and described our history and charism, “We, the Sisters of Saint Agnes” were present.

When I introduced myself to a guest as Hermana Patricia, “We, the Sisters of Saint Agnes, were present.

The “we-ness” of our communal life was very present to me over the last 4 weeks. Perhaps it was the sharing on this “we” question which we have been engaged in over the last few months which sensitized me. Or perhaps it was grace allowing me to recognize the “great cloud of witnesses” both past and present which captured my imagination.

Whatever sparked this insight I pray I was a “joyful witness” who welcomed “all who come to us with genuine hospitality.” I am so, so grateful to be a member of “We, the Sisters of Saint Agnes.”

Peace…

Pat

Excursion to the mountains

The mountains can be seen from my bedroom window. Ruth, my co-worker, and I explored two trails in the Franklin Mountains State Park, in the Chihuahuan Desert mountain range. The view is expansive and deep. Our walk was limited by not having hiking boots or walking sticks and an early evening shift at the Center. However brief our excursion, the expansiveness of the views opened my soul to the splendor of creation. We toured the nearby National Border Patrol Museum. U.S. Border Agents have secured and protected the U.S. external boundaries since 1924. They deliver asylum seekers in vans to our shelter frequently.

Refugees from Brazil

A surprising development is that the El Paso shelters have been receiving 40+ asylum seekers daily from Brazil, who speak Portuguese. The shelter has a volunteer on call to translate. The Brazilians have smartphones and money, call their sponsors, and often leave the same day. We wonder how they traveled so far.

With two days remaining for me at the shelter, I remind myself of the significance of a smile of encouragement. Whether by word or gesture, a smile may lift their burdens momentarily. The challenge is to lift one another’s burdens in this holy chaos.

On my first day off, I took an excursion across the border to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico with Pam and Laura, two other volunteers here in El Paso. Pam and Laura were previously Peace Corps volunteers and are committed to helping the marginalized. The purpose of our exploration was to learn as much as we could about the various processes asylum seekers encounter as they pass through Border Patrol and make their way to our shelter. This image below shows asylum seekers sitting on the ground in the restricted area as they wait for the border patrol to send them on the next step of their journey.

We opted to walk across the bridge rather than waiting in the slow vehicle lane and were approached by two police officers who were concerned for our safety as we walked along the Rio Grande, which in this area is a trickle of polluted water. They told how robbers and thieves prey on the asylum seekers.

We entered a government building and were met by a volunteer, Luca, who told the history of how an empty building was converted to assist the asylum seekers from both sides of the border. Mexico was as unprepared for the massive exodus as the United States. When asylum seekers are deported from the U.S., they may find their way to this agency and this kind, committed woman. She is hopeful that the current president of Mexico will support law-abiding citizens, since many asylum seekers from Central America are fleeing from extortion. If they develop a successful business or farm, their lives could be endangered unless they pay the extortionist. Luca wrote and published a book for children to help them heal from their trauma.

Our comprehension and feelings were greatly expanded by our excursion across the border

It’s Thursday of my last week in El Paso. As I ponder the last 4 weeks, I’m filled with more questions than answers, more confusion than clarity, and an awareness of the deep human cost of demagoguery.

This article from the Washington Post is an excellent summary of the ministry to the migrants being done by Annunciation House. They are to be commended and supported for their efforts over the last 40+ years. 

It has been heart-breaking to witness grown men sob as they speak to relatives here in the United States. They are speaking in their indigenous language, so I don’t understand what they are saying. The feelings, however, are patently clear and raw.

It has been heart-warming to meet so many selfless, caring volunteers whose primary focus is to make the guests feel welcome and to reunite them with their families as soon as possible. The volunteers have been lay and religious; single and married; of all religious denominations. They/we have been united in a common purpose of Annunciation House: “No refugee to the streets”

That purpose has been seriously tested as the Border Patrol rounds up more asylum-seekers. Because the detention centers are full, these individuals are not processed through ICE. Rather, the Border Patrol has tried to release these individuals to the streets of El Paso. It’s only through the tireless efforts of Rubén Garcia, Annunciation House founder, that living spaces have been found for these people. This practice has been called “catch and release” a phrase we attribute to fishing, not human beings.

SO…

What does it mean that the elegant, beloved symbol of freedom, Lady Liberty, stands in New York harbor and we find walls, razor wire and “hieleras” in the southwest border?

What does it mean that undocumented people are called “alien?” Aliens are mysterious, extraterrestrial frightening phenomena. Undocumented people are human beings like us with hopes, dreams and aspirations. Except for an accident of birth, we could be “alien!”

What does it mean that families make a choice to undertake a profoundly perilous, arduous journey seeking a better life for themselves and their children to be greeted with cruelty, abuse and a lack of respect by the greatest(?) country in the world? This is no walk in the park they undertake. The conditions under which they are living prompt this decision. Like any of us, they would prefer to “stay home” in their own culture but that becomes an untenable possibility.

What does it mean that women being welcomed into Casa Oscar Romero and being told “this house is your house” begin to cry, because it’s the first time they have felt welcomed anywhere since arriving in the US?

What does it mean that children 3, 6, 7, or 11 years old are able to tolerate hunger and fatigue? That they have developed long-suffering patience when no one of any age should have to do so?

What does it mean that a man from Guatemala asks if he can say a prayer before eating? Or that another man asks if he can speak in his “own” language?

What does it mean that I return home with less than half the clothing I arrived with and still have more than enough?

This month-long experience will take much longer to integrate into my life and process adequately. I try to summarize it below in poetry form. The impetus for the words in quotations is the poem by Emma Lazarus entitled The New Colossus. I invite you to read and reflect on it in light of what is occurring here in the southwest.

EL PASO
Cypress, cactus and palm live side by side in your desert scrub-grass and sparks my longing for an
abundance of green and bouquets of flowers. The Franklin mountains pierce the sky to the west. Your
dry, windy climate has ravaged my respiratory system and shortened my breathing.

Yet all of that is nothing to the sight of endless lines of women, men, children and babies who arrive at
the front door of Casa Oscar Romero. They are the “tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe
free” of Emma Lazarus.

Those people and their stories and their plight have broken my heart in ways that I don’t yet have words
for. I have been tenderized, pounded down, with the weight of their grief and loss. And, strangely, I have
been buoyed up by their turn toward hope and optimism after spending a few hours in this House of
Welcome.

We all know their struggle has only begun and may continue for years; in a short period of time they may
find themselves once again in Guatemala or Honduras.

Meanwhile I return home a changed woman even as I don’t fully appreciate how and in what way that
change will manifest. For a few short weeks I have been a “mother to exiles”; a beacon of welcome to
the “wretched refuse of your teeming” border.

I have lived the experience of “being enriched by those we serve.” Thank you. Gracias .

 Pat

Casa Oscar Romero has limited medical care available to refugees for various ailments. Health concerns include upper respiratory conditions, high blood pressure, foot sores, athletes foot, and diabetes. While some asylum seekers are able to start their healing, others will carry the scars and trauma of their long and arduous migration for months and years.

As busy as we volunteers are, there is an occasional moment for personal connection with those who are staying overnight. A father let me hold his baby while his wife washed pots and pans in the kitchen. His daughter was born 40 days ago, which was before the parents left home and indicates how resolute the young couple was to migrate.

When I arrived in the dining area to eat a simple dinner, the guest cooks were eager to show me their appreciation by serving the usual rice and beans. Two adults and their young children told me about traveling four days by bus and then being confined for three days in the frigid detention center. They are eager to leave by bus tomorrow for Florida. While I ate, we had an introductory vocabulary lesson. They all four promised themselves to enroll in schools where they could learn English and become self-sufficient.

Travel day
In response to a request for volunteers to assist refugees who are seeking asylum, I am traveling to El Paso, Texas. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes is a member of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which requested volunteers to help in El Paso. My general superior forwarded the request to our members. After my previous ministry at Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley in McAllen, TX, I was surprised to have a second opportunity to volunteer with refugees. I will be glad to join Sister Pat Hayes, CSA, who began at El Paso two weeks ago and will continue while I will be there.

I arrived at El Paso Texas, which borders on Mexico, New Mexico, and the Rio Grande. The elevation is 3740’ above sea level. The population is 683,577. The Franklin Mountains are in the background. Two international crossing bridges connect with Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. We volunteers lodge at El Convento, a former motherhouse and novitiate of the Sisters of Loretta. Many women religious and dedicated lay people volunteer for two or more weeks. I was happy to meet Sister Pat when she returned from work. Annunciation House comprises shelters at 13 locations, which are sponsored by the Diocese of El Paso.

Day 1
I am assigned to work 12:00-7:00 at Casa Oscar Romero; the same shift and location as Sister Pat who lives just down the hall from me. Our transportation is via Uber.  Forty asylum seekers arrived, primarily young families from Guatemala. We made sandwiches of PB&J for the refugees to take along as they travel by bus to their sponsors elsewhere across our country. I read a picture book with a father and daughter to help them learn the vocabulary of colors and objects. We practiced the color words as well as naming the object in the pictures. Other volunteers and I organized donated and recycled clothing for distribution. This established program serves the clients meals of rice and beans: a familiar Central American menu. The asylum seekers are eager to reach the destination and reunite with the friends and families who are sponsoring them. In addition to their lunches, refugees will carry identification and immigration papers which include the address of their sponsor and documentation indicating that they do not speak English.

Day 4 - Grateful and Helpful
My shift at the Casa Oscar Romero, where I volunteer with the asylum seekers from Guatemala, is becoming more predictable. These refugees are willing to clean, cook meals, and wash laundry. They hang the wet wash over the fence in the yard. In this dry climate, the laundry dries quickly.

My task was to get all the floors swept and mopped. I studied the vocabulary for broom, dustpan, mop, and bucket. Helpers responded to my request and cleaned the floors before more refugees arrived. Forty refugees were delivered by border patrol at 4:00 p.m. These refugee newcomers are surprised and grateful to receive food and clothing at the shelter. Packets are prepared in advance for distribution. Packets include a set of bed linens, bath towel, and a sandwich sized bag of toiletries. Sister Pat, the shift manager, said to prepare at least 75 packets for refugees, who will be delivered by border patrol at 6:00 p.m. I recruited two young women, including one with a toddler, to prepare 80 packets.

While my helpers folded the bed linens and towels, one young woman described how they were released from the detention center directly to the street. They slept under a bridge for four days and four nights without food or water. They have sore hips from lying on the soil and stones. They are coughing and sneezing from breathing in the dust. They are grateful to now be in a safe shelter. They knew before they left home that they would suffer on their journey, yet they chose to flee from violence and unemployment. Their bravery and determination indicate how much these immigrants will enrich our country as they make their home in our midst.