June 12, 2014 Dear Friends of the Kino Border Initiative: As many of you are aware, a high number of migrant children, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border recently into South Texas. They flee violence and extreme poverty in their countries of origin, and many seek to be reunified with their parents in the United States. Last Thursday, June 5, I found out that some of these children were being transported from South Texas to Arizona …Read More
Archives for June 2014
Walking the Walk
From the beginning, Pope Francis has led through both word and example, guiding Catholics—and the rest of the world—to the basic principles of love and compassion that Jesus taught. By Roxane Ramos The day before Pope Francis’s meeting with President Obama earlier this year, 10-year old Jersey Vargas from Los Angeles, CA rushed up to the pontiff as he greeted the throngs in St. Peter’s Square. She told him about the plight of undocumented migrants in the U.S., and the pain of being …Read More
A Priest Reflects on the Catholic Moment on Immigration Reform
Father Clete Kiley, a participant in the delegation of Catholic clergy visiting the U.S.–Mexico border in early April, reflects on his experience and addresses our failed immigration policy. By Father Clete Kiley of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Director for Immigration Policy for UNITE HERE By now, many of us have become familiar with the cold facts and statistics of our nation’s failed immigration system and the immense human suffering it causes. Twenty-five thousand Central American …Read More
Up Close: The People of the KBI
Migrant Stories By: Roxane Ramos Each year, 600,000 to 800,000 undocumented migrants are deported. Though their reasons for crossing center around reuniting with their families and seeking better lives, each story is unique. Here are some—the names are changed to protect privacy, but the facts are unaltered. Yolanda, Mexico Yolanda grew up in Oaxaca, Mexico and when she was 14, her parents sold her to an abusive older man who migrated with her to Mesa, AZ. She’d had four daughters with …Read More