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The Same and Not the Same

August 28, 2019
By Eileen Mahony, CSA
Sister Eileen at Casa Alitas
CASA Alitas

 

On August 9, 2019 Tucson Diocese’s respite center for asylum-seeking refugees moved from the former Benedictine Sisters’ Monastery to three unoccupied wings of Pima County’s Juvenile Detention Center. The spacious, welcoming sacred old space of the monastery is a memory for the volunteers who served hundreds of refugees daily for six months.

Today’s guests are received in sturdy, smaller structures that daily are being transformed from a correctional institution to a colorful welcoming respite center. For guests, the current center is far better than their “lodgings” on their trek from violence to safety and hope for a future. Within 48-72 hours, they travel to their families or sponsors who assume responsibility for them. The refugees are not eligible for public assistance. In the United States they await their formal asylum hearings.

Not only has the respite center setting changed. During the six months the monastery served as respite center, 100 to 200 new guests were received daily. Beginning August, only one, two or three dozen guests have arrived daily. The presidents of Guatemala and Mexico have heeded Washington’s threats by blocking their borders to refugees. Routes have been blocked, but not the desire and need to flee.

During this “down time”, Tucson volunteers continue to make the center ever more welcoming.

Invitation Only