"If God has sustained me this far, it's because He still has a purpose for my life." Elaine speaks these words with a calmness that stands in stark contrast to everything she has endured. Just a year ago, she was deported from Phoenix, Arizona. Today, she is once again making the journey north—not because she wants to start over, but because returning to Honduras did not mean returning to safety. Originally from Honduras, Elaine traveled to the United States with her two children in search …Read More

“We never imagined Nogales would be the place where we would begin again,” Pedro shared with us one morning while having breakfast at Kino. Pedro and Arlena left Bolivia in 2023 with the hope of seeking asylum in the United States. “The journey was long,” Arlena recalled. “Imagine crossing border after border through cold and heat, with hunger and the constant fear that our resources would run out.” Like so many others, they embarked on a long and uncertain journey, believing the border would …Read More

“The thing that hurts me most isn’t losing my job or my home. The thing that hurts me most is not being able to show up on a Friday afternoon with donuts for my kids.” Rolando told us this while sitting in the government shelter in Nogales, Sonora, far from Phoenix, the city where he built his life for more than 35 years. It was there that he started a family with his wife, who is also from Guerrero, Mexico. It was there that their four children were born and raised. It was there that he …Read More

“A mother does what she has to do to care for life,” Camelia told us as she held her baby in her arms, in a conversation that brought us back to the moment she arrived in Nogales more than a year and a half ago. Camelia is originally from Guerrero. She left her community with her husband and her oldest son after facing threats and persecution from criminal groups. “It was no longer a life. It was living in fear every day.” While pregnant, she made the decision to seek protection for herself …Read More

“I prefer a faith that endures and a joy that persists,” Leandro shared a couple of weeks ago in a phone conversation that took us back to January 2025, when he arrived in Nogales from Tuxtla, Chiapas. At that time, he came with the hope of reuniting with his son, whom he hadn’t embraced in 10 years, and with the longing to find safety and dignified work in the United States. Leandro is originally from Guatemala, and after trying more than five times to establish his own restaurant …Read More