IMMIGRATION MATTERS: ASYLUM
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up,
take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and
remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to
search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph
got up, took the child and his mother by night, and
went to Egypt, and remained there until the death
of Herod. – Matt. 2:13-15Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up,
take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and
remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to
search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph
got up, took the child and his mother by night, and
went to Egypt, and remained there until the death
of Herod. – Matt. 2:13-15
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) defines
asylum as a form of protection that allows noncitizens to remain in the
United States instead of being deported to their home country. There are 5five main
grounds for claiming asylum: Race,
religion, nationality, member in a particular social group, or political
opinion. The process of asylum is also a protection that begins at one of the
140+ portals of entry at our southern border. The caveat is that a person must physically be
on U.S. soil to begin that process.
In June of 2024 President Biden severely restricted the flow
of people seeking asylum at the southern border to 2500 per day. In September
he reduced the number again to 1500 so Customs and Border Patrol could stop
people from entering the U.S. to claim asylum. The administration encouraged
people to use its CBP One appointment system to schedule an appointment on an
app to come to an official border crossing point instead of crossing the border
illegally. The demand far exceeded the 1,450 appointments available daily. The
backlog has continued to create dangerous and unsanitary encampments along the
Southern border in Mexico, inviting human traffickers and criminals.
In March of 2020 I worked in one of these encampments in
Matamoros, Mexico. 2,500 people were living in tents, some waiting more than a year
to cross the border. One seasoned aid worker who had worked in refugee camps across
the world said the living conditions were “the worst she had ever experienced.”
I was startled when I heard a family
speaking fluent English. They had lived
in the U.S. undocumented for 20 years. Three
of the children had been born in the U.S. and greeted me with shy smiles,
wearing Superhero t-shirts. Their father
explained he’d been deported for a traffic violation. Another man originally from Nicaragua, had
worked for the U.S. Government as an interpreter during the conflict there. He had married a woman from Honduras, and
moved there, but the violence had grown so bad, that they needed to leave the
country. I met professors and doctors
and people from every station of life willing to sacrifice everything to get to
the U.S. to claim asylum.
The theme for this Third Sunday of Advent is Joy. It’s hard
to imagine joy in the sacrifice and commitment of those living and working in
the encampments along our southern border.
But I certainly found it when I was there. I heard mothers singing while they swept the
dirt around their tent and in the laughter of children playing. I saw it in the
smiling face of the “clerk” at the makeshift tienda as he handed out diapers. I found it too in the other volunteers:
families with kids and college students on Spring break, Churches and other
groups from Brownsville TX walking across the Rio Grande to deliver food, and a
preacher from Matamoros living in solidarity in a tent among the people. In the
weeks ahead may we rely on our commitment as Christians in joyful words and
action, to proclaim the good news to immigrants in need.
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