The Inspiring Work Being Done To Show What Jesus Would Do At The Border [View all]

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The Inspiring Work Being Done To Show What Jesus Would Do At The Border

by Jack Jenkins Posted on July 24, 2014 at 10:18 am Updated: July 24, 2014 at 11:50 am



McALLEN, TX — It was only 2:30 in the afternoon, but they were already running low on children’s shoes. “We’re out of certain kid’s sizes,” a worried-looking volunteer said as she pointed toward the back of the large, merchandise-filled room. Between her finger and the shoe rack stood several colorful mountains of neatly-arranged t-shirts, pants, and shorts, each marked with helpful signs that read “Boys 8-9” or “Girls 10-14.”

This humid warehouse in the border town of McAllen, Texas isn’t an off-brand children’s clothing outlet or a trendy thrift store. It’s a church, specifically a parish hall usually reserved for small congregational events. And the shoes weren’t meant for frugal shoppers, but for the scarred, aching feet of the exhausted immigrant parents and children sitting quietly near the back door. Many of their own shoes had been worn through by the grueling journey to the U.S.-Mexico border, and while the parents had done their best to carry their children for as long as they could, the trip had still taken its toll on a number of tiny sneakers.

That day, it seemed, there were simply too many kids, and not enough shoes.

Inside the relief effort

A dedicated coalition of volunteers and faith groups have banded together at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown McAllen to create an oasis of relief for the ever-increasing number of immigrant families crossing the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Lawmakers spar daily over how — or even if — to bolster programs to address the recent surge of immigrants, in the tens of thousands, coming across the border. But for Americans in towns like McAllen, which sits about five miles from the border, the immigration crisis is already a part of daily life — and so are efforts to care for immigrants.

The program at Sacred Heart started when people noticed a growing number of bewildered-looking men, women, and children being dropped off by U.S. Border Patrol at the downtown McAllen bus station. These were not the much-discussed unaccompanied minors — they are processed and housed separately by the federal government. Instead, these were undocumented immigrants who had been apprehended by authorities, processed, and then given a bus ticket to reunite with a family member before returning for a court hearing to determine their status. They were part of an explosion of small family groups attempting to enter the U.S. — mostly mothers traveling with young children. According to the Women’s Refugee Commission, the number of families crossing the border has increased at a similar rate to the number of unaccompanied children, with 55,000 adults with children apprehended just this year. They, like the unaccompanied children, are primarily fleeing horrific violence and crushing poverty in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, and both influxes of immigrants have been concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley, a region that includes McAllen.

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http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/07/24/3463127/texas-border-religion/