Another border trip shapes our understanding of the immigrant experience

Elia Moreno is the executive director of the Texas Christian Community Development Network (TxCCDN). She is committed to helping people in their network understand the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Since she hadn't traveled to the border herself since she was a child, she sought the help of Brenda Kirk from the National Immigration Forum and Elket Rodríguez, CBF field personnel in the Rio Grande Valley.

Elket planned and led a trip for a group from TxCCDN, which is still ongoing. They have spent time serving food to people in the colonias, visiting the shelter for unaccompanied minors, experienced the hospitality of Carlos Navarro in Brownsville, and they worked alongside Eleuterio Gonzalez in Matamoros and George Zapata from Hearts4Kids.

Elia reports that her team of volunteers came to see for themselves what the experience of people is like on the border. They consist of a TxCCDN board member, staff, and community leaders from Dallas and Houston. They have certainly already gained an understanding and more compassion for the situation of the people they met.

They were able to speak for a while with one elderly woman who made a particular impact on them. While the volunteers were curious about her story, she was more curious about them. She hugged them, blessed them, encouraged them, and ministered to them. They were overcome by her graciousness.

Elket explains, “The best way to dispel misinformation, hear God’s voice and do His will is to become a keen observer and witness reality in its context. Our friends at TxCCDN witnessed the unedited realities of migrant communities in the US-Mexico border. They left with an initial assessment of the needs and the strengths of our border communities to further partner for the benefit of migrants.”

TxCCDN would like to repeat this experience in the years to come. Coming to the border means opening yourself up to the likelihood of transformation, and that's exactly what TxCCDN is hoping for through these trips alongside Fellowship Southwest partners.