FSW partner Primera Iglesia Bautista in Piedras Negras mobilizes to aid Haitian migrants

By Elket Rodríguez

Pastor Israel Rodríguez-Segura received shock after shock when he heard the news about 15,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, camping under the international bridge between Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, and Del Rio, Texas. The number of migrants shocked him, as did reports of their squalid conditions, as well as the fact government officials had closed the bridge.

Rodríguez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Piedras Negras, Mexico, sixty miles downriver from Acuña/Del Rio, operates the only migrant shelter allowed by authorities in his city. He wondered how he could assist the migrants, as well as how he could help Acuña congregations provide ministry to migrants, whose plights flashed on TV screens around the globe.

Pastor Rodríguez with his volunteers.

So, he contacted two pastors in Acuña, gathered a group of volunteers, and launched an initiative to feed the migrants. 

“We traveled with six volunteers from our church to Ciudad Acuña to feed the Haitians,” Rodríguez reported. "We had 2,000 plates of food with us. We handed them all."

Volunteers from Iglesia Bautista Bethel and Primera Iglesia Bautista of Acuña assisted Rodríguez and members of his church. "I enjoy when new people get involved in ministering to migrants," he said. "There were many people suffering from lack of food."

Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security closed the international bridge and re-routed all traffic to nearby ports of entry to deter migrants from crossing through Del Río. DHS strategies to address the migrant surge in Del Río also has affected Rodríguez’s ministry in Piedras Negras.

“We are sheltering 37 migrants, and half of them are recently arrived Haitians,” he noted. "I don't know what will happen next, because (Haitian immigrants) are beginning to arrive in Piedras Negras."

Piedras Negras authorities are preventing buses carrying migrants from Mexico’s southern border from entering Piedras Negras, he added. "Outside the city, the local authorities are stopping the buses that are transporting migrants into the city," he said. "Last week, 10 buses filled with migrants were seeking entry from Tapachula, Chiapas (Mexico’s southernmost city), and the authorities told them they could not enter into Piedras Negras."

Piedras Negras authorities escorted the buses back to Acuña, he said. "That is why we have a few (Haitians) staying in Piedras Negras, because the authorities will not allow us to host more migrants."

Across from Acuña, in Del Río, Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition, a faith organization that helps asylum seekers travel to their U.S. sponsors, has been overwhelmed by hundreds of families in need. The coalition’s president, Shon Young, describes the situation under the international bridge as a “Third World country.”

“We are starting to see releases to us on the U.S. side at our center at a record pace,” added Young, missions pastor at City Church in Del Rio. “Please keep us lifted in prayer.”  

As of Monday, Sept. 20, more than 6,000 migrants had been removed from the Acuña encampment. Meanwhile reports of migrant abuse by horse-mounted border patrol circulated broadly. 

Please continue to pray for the safety of these migrants and the wisdom of U.S. and Mexican immigration officials. 

Fellowship Southwest supports Primera Iglesia Bautista in Piedras Negras as part of its immigrant relief ministry all along the U.S.-Mexico border. If you would like to contribute to our network of pastors serving migrants on the border, click here.

Elket Rodríguez is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s and Fellowship Southwest’s immigrant and refugee missions and advocacy specialist.