“The U.S. immigration system goes against religious values, especially Unitarian Universalist values.” “This system is the antithesis to seeing people as human.” “We keep hearing about this idea of restoring dignity but dignity is not revocable.”
These were some of the concluding reflections from a group on a Courts and Ports program in the Rio Grande Valley, including two Unitarian Universalist Ministers and congregant members, who are all heavily invested in justice ministry work.
Courts & Ports: A Glimpse of the Immersive Experience
Courts & Ports, a project of Texas Impact, is a two-day immersive learning experience for people of faith to witness and learn first-hand about the realities and challenges of our U.S. immigration system at the Texas-Mexico border.
Courts & Ports: Day One in the Rio Grande Valley
This group began their first day in the Rio Grande Valley with an information session from the enforcers of immigration law, the Customs and Border Patrol agents. The group had an opportunity to ask questions and see the data on who and what the agents encounter at our border. After this, we crossed into Mexico and met with staff from MedGlobal to visit the makeshift asylum seekers encampment on the riverbank in Matamoros. This encampment began in 2017 with metering and then the Migration Protection Protocols that forced people to wait in Mexico. MedGlobal staff talked about the many challenges and the resiliency of the community in the encampment despite the ever fast changing U.S. immigration policies over the years.
Once we swiftly crossed back into Brownsville, we visited with a nongovernmental organization who welcomes families that have already been processed into the US and the group put together toiletry bags. This group then drove from Brownsville to McAllen on the highway adjacent to the border to observe the border wall and the various communities along this stretch of road. Our day concluded in McAllen, where some of us distributed dinner plates, and others packed diaper bags at a short term respite center for families who have already been processed by immigration officials.
Courts & Ports: Day Two in the Rio Grande Valley
Our second day involved learning about our convoluted immigration policies first-hand with observation of non-detained immigration court proceedings. Some of the group members observed 2 different immigration judges and noticed the variations in styles of running their courtrooms. The group then visited the only long term shelter in this border region and learned about the ways in which different organizations try to best serve the needs of new arrivals. The day concluded with an informative presentation from a legal organization that provides services to unaccompanied children and new arrivals in this region.
This Courts and Ports group reflected and pondered about how to take all that they witnessed and learned back to their communities. The Ministers in the group said they would preach a sermon about their experience and others said they wanted to remain engaged with future opportunities to support immigration policies that respect the inherent human dignity of people seeking safety.
- Watch the sermon of the Senior Minister, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston:: https://www.youtube.com/live/AQHP-GxiRVY?si=S3r3tVyPm4WzCY_U&t=2640
- Read it here: https://colinbossen.com/through-eyes-that-have-cried-houston/
- Join a Courts & Ports immersive program experience. Email fabi@texasimpact.org
Watch Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen’s Sermon on his reflections on his Courts & Ports experience and overall takeaways.
