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We are at a critical juncture where our faith and values call us to stand up for justice and compassion. We invite you to join us in a vital advocacy effort alongside various faith-based organizations and religious leaders. Together, we aim to address the injustices perpetuated under Operation Lone Star in Texas.

Our Christian faith calls us to stand alongside our immigrant neighbors, particularly Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, known as 'Dreamers.' These young individuals were brought to the U.S. as children and enrolled in the DACA program, which provides protection from deportation and allows them to work. However, our commitment to solidarity is now urgently needed as recent developments have cast a shadow of uncertainty over the lives of nearly 600,000 Dreamers, who have known no other home than the United States.

Marianela Hernandez knows what it’s like to immigrate to the U.S. from Venezuela. She and her family went through the process just seven years ago. But a lot has changed since then, and on her recent trip to Brownsville, Texas, to serve migrants, she saw people who could have been her, had her family waited until now to leave.

This past May, we issued an urgent call for volunteers to come to Brownsville, Texas, across the border from Matamoros, Mexico, where numbers of migrants were spiking. Our ministry partner in Brownsville, Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville and their pastor, Carlos Navarro, needed help serving the migrants coming through the bus station near them. Many Fellowship Southwest friends made quick plans and answered the call. Though the immigration numbers have stabilized, help is always needed, and this past weekend, three churches from around Texas convened in Brownsville.

Stephen Reeves offered this pastoral prayer at First Baptist Austin on Sunday for migrants, for law enforcement, for our politicians, and for all of us. For the video of the prayer, click here. It begins at 38:55.

In early May, we issued an urgent call for volunteers to come to Brownsville, Texas, and serve migrants at the border. If you recall, Title 42 was due to lift May 11, and tensions at the border were swelling. Our primary partner in Brownsville, Pastor Carlos Navarro, was preparing for an enormous increase in the numbers of migrants he would be serving at the Welcome Center adjacent to the bus station and at his church's immigrant respite center.

On Wednesday FSW staff members Anyra Cano and Stephen Reeves traveled to the small village of La Modelo to celebrate the opening of a new building. The structure will soon be a shelter for migrants who hope to apply for asylum in the US and others who are seasonal workers in the nearby fields. It will be part of the Red de Albergues de Migrantes, Tierra de Oro which is led by longtime FSW partner Pastor Rosalío Sosa.

Fellowship Southwest is privileged to support interns at Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) at Baylor’s Diana Garland School of Social Work. These graduate students, some of who are dual-degree students getting their M.S.W. and their M.Div at Truett Seminary, have been serving at C3I this year for their internship. They each chose a project related to their focus of work and developed an asset map. Two staff members from Fellowship Southwest, Cameron Vickrey and Anyra Cano, attended their presentations in person in Waco to learn from them and see the impact of their work.

Today, May 11, 2023, is the long-awaited day when Title 42 finally lifts. But instead of rejoicing, we are bracing for what comes in its aftermath: the Biden Asylum Ban.

Our border partner in Tijuana, Pastor Juvenal Gonzalez, shared a hopeful story with us about some Afghan refugees he was able to assist because of Fellowship Southwest's support.