The Biden administration has become addicted to Title 42 –the order that authorizes the rapid expulsion of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border due to the threat of COVID-19. And like all addictions, the real problems are avoided.

You might have noticed several “away” responses if you’ve tried to email one of the Fellowship Southwest staff this month. Here’s a summary of what we’ve been doing and who we’ve gotten to connect with.

Among the many worthy organizations you could associate with or give your time and resources to, we are grateful to have you with Fellowship Southwest. If you are looking into how you or your church can be more involved with us, here are a few suggestions to consider.

Elsa Romero demonstrates faithfulness by trusting God every step of the way in her life, never really knowing what might come next. Time and again, God has blessed her with the gift of education. She honors this gift by giving back to others in the form of education and language. She says, “Language is like a bridge. It connects us with people. It also allows us to pursue the education we need, the job we dream about, the life we want for ourselves and our children.”

"El Espíritu del Señor está sobre mí, porque me ha ungido para proclamar la libertad a los cautivos. "

El mes pasado en Brownsville, TX, junto al pastor Carlos Navarro y la Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville, nos reunimos en un centro de bienvenida establecido para las organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Estábamos ahí para ofrecer alimentos, agua y otras necesidades básicas a los refugiados y migrantes. Minutos antes de entrar a este centro de bienvenida, ellos son liberados de los centros de detención de la Patrulla Fronteriza.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim freedom to the captives.”

Last month in Brownsville, TX, alongside Pastor Carlos Navarro and Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville, we gathered in a welcome center set up for non-profits to offer food, water and other basic needs to refugees and migrants. Minutes before they enter this welcome center, they are released from Border Patrol detention centers.

Bethany Rivera Molinar, vive y trabaja en el barrio Río Grande, en el centro de la cuidad de El Paso, TX, como directora ejecutiva de Ciudad Nueva. A Bethany le apasiona ver cómo se desenvuelve el reino de Dios en su barrio, ya que hace parte de la naturaleza de las personas que viven allí con ella.

Bethany Rivera Molinar lives and works in the Rio Grande neighborhood in central El Paso. As the executive director for Ciudad Nueva, Bethany is passionate about seeing God’s kingdom unfold in her neighborhood, and it is, because of the nature of the people who live there with her.

My hike up Wheeler Peak with my son and nephew brought back many memories. As we inched our way up the mountain trail, we passed scenic vistas overlooking lush valleys, majestic distant mountain peaks, and pristine alpine lakes, all of which brought back dim memories of 35 years ago when I was last in the area. We saw a variety of wild life during our time there, but one of our most exciting was big horn sheep.

El equipo de Fellowship Southwest acaba de concluir un recorrido con la mayoría de los ministerios que apoyamos y que atienden a los migrantes en la frontera. Comenzamos durante el fin de semana de “Labor day” (Día del Trabajo), principalmente como una forma de conectarnos en persona, con estos ministerios que apoyamos, y para que Anyra Cano, la nueva integrante del equipo, conociera los ministerios. Anyra es la directora de programas y alcance, será la persona principal que ayudará coordinar los viajes misioneros y experiencias en la frontera.

Elia Moreno siempre está dispuesta a servir a Dios, y a principios de este año, le prometió que le serviría de maneras extraordinarias, aun si eso implicaba viajar afuera de los EE. UU. y regresar a México, lo que no había hecho desde su niñez. Por supuesto, Dios la llamó a servir en México.

En los últimos años se ha disparado el uso del término "ilegal" en los medios de comunicación para referirse a todo los migrantes que llegan a la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, o que son transportados a varias ciudades de la nación. Pero estos migrantes no son ilegales.

Elia Moreno is always willing to serve God, and early this year, she promised God to serve him in extraordinary ways, even if that meant traveling outside the U.S. and back to Mexico, which she hasn’t done since her childhood. Of course, that meant God called her to Mexico.

In recent years, the use of the term "illegal" has exploded in the media to refer to migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, or who are transported to various destinations in the nation. But these migrants are not illegal.

If they were illegal, all providers of transportation services for these migrants or any person or state who “aids or abets” the transportation of these migrants would be committing a crime by transporting people without authorization to be in the United States. Under that reasoning, Texas, Arizona, and Florida would be transporting undocumented migrants. If they were illegal, Texas, Arizona, and Florida would have contacted the Department of Homeland Security to process those undocumented migrants.

The Fellowship Southwest staff just completed a tour of most of the partners we support who serve migrants at the border. We started over Labor Day weekend, mainly as a way to touch base with partners in person, but also to introduce our new staff person, Anyra Cano, to the ministries there. Anyra is the director of programs and outreach, and she will be the primary person who helps to coordinate mission trips and experiences at the border.

Each week of Hispanic Heritage Month, FSW is featuring a Hispanic woman who does good work for God’s kingdom.

Nora Lozano is from Monterrey, Mexico, and has been involved in theological education for more than 25 years. She came to the U.S. at age 25 to pursue her Masters of Divinity and PhD in theological and religious studies, while raising a young family at the same time. She lives in San Antonio where she is a faithful member of Woodland Baptist Church. She currently serves as supplemental faculty at Central Seminary, and most notably, she is the executive director of the Christian Latina Leadership Institute.

Last time I checked, Haiti was not on the border of Texas.

I was born and raised on the border, in El Paso, TX. My parents are immigrants from Mexico, so traveling to the neighboring city of Cd. Juarez and into Mexico was very normal to me.

I’ll never forget waiting in the car for hours to cross back to El Paso. The trips back were filled with dismay, as the bridge was filled with children begging for money or selling candy or souvenirs. It was a reality that always disturbed me but taught me empathy and compassion. It was always an opportunity for my parents to teach us about our privileges, despite the fact that we were a low-income family.

Our new friend Alma Ruth says, “You can’t unsee what you have seen at the border. What you see makes you a witness to the humanitarian crisis. And then you have the moral authority to advocate.” Let me tell you what we saw last weekend on a border trip touching base with our ministry partners.

This past month, nearly 200,0001 encounters occurred between Border Patrol agents and migrants seeking to enter the U.S. This is only a fraction of the number of people awaiting official entrance and sanction into the country. When accounting for every person who is awaiting their case, seeking entry, or being processed, that number easily reaches into the millions. These numbers are staggering, and yet, for me, they were easy to miss. Unless you live in a border town where those seeking asylum consistently arrive weary, confused, and often carrying little more than their children, then distance creates a barrier to experiencing this reality. While many churches and organizations have heard the news about our nation’s border, and perhaps have taken a stand on the issue, very few are engaged in the ongoing work it demands. And yet, Scripture clearly calls us to love the foreigner, and to welcome them. Although not every church is called to serve in the same way, our calling to love the foreigner is an unavoidable imperative. It is mentioned throughout the Scriptures dozens of times and is reaffirmed in the New Testament through Jesus’ own immigration story. I take this as indication that every church ought to consider how they will pursue this calling regardless of how it may differ.

Have you seen the headlines that Biden is making DACA more permanent? This is something to celebrate! But it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Here’s the download, which I got from Elket Rodriguez, our immigration legal specialist.