Activists are stepping up pressure on the U.S. to grant asylum and other protections to Black Mauritanians facing imprisonment, torture, execution and slavery in the northwest African nation. Mauritanian diaspora leaders and other advocates participated in a June 6 webinar…
On migrant crisis, the U.S. and UK governments share a controversial tactic in common
The United States practice of paying Mexico millions of dollars to keep asylum-seeking immigrants from crossing the southern border is not unique. The United Kingdom does something similar in partnership with Rwanda. In the U.S., the Biden administration has been…
In a dusty Mexican border town, Fellowship Southwest offers refuge for those fleeing cartel violence
There are no easy days for migrants stranded in Mexico while seeking asylum in the United States. The challenges they face are treacherous and seemingly limitless, including the constant threat of kidnappings and murder by prowling cartel members, gnawing hunger…
How to show Greg Abbott and other Grinches the true spirit of Christmas
The governor of the state where I live proved himself to be a Grinch of the first order Christmas Eve — and apparently a coward too. Three busloads of migrants were delivered outside the door of Vice President Kamala Harris’…
A true account of one migrant’s journey north
Anyra Cano, director of programs and outreach for Fellowship Southwest, recently interviewed a young man from South America who was released from a U.S. immigration detention center. To protect his identity, that man is identified here as “PR.” PR,…
That time I was suddenly responsible for getting nine migrants through security at DFW Airport
Even though I graduated from both high school and college in New Mexico, my Spanish is pretty bad. But I understood clearly what Pastor Isabel Marquez was telling the 52 migrants gathered in a small room at Oak Lawn United…
Who is my neighbor? Reflecting theologically on the migrant crisis
“Who is my neighbor?” The expert of the law, the one whose job it was to study Scriptures, asked Jesus this question in Luke 10. Of course, the expert probably knew the answer. He knew the original languages and pored…
Religious groups step up as DeSantis and Abbott make immigrants pawns for publicity
Religious groups are teaming with migrant advocacy networks and government agencies to serve asylum seekers recently sent by bus to Washington, D.C., and by plane to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., by the governors of Arizona, Texas and Florida to protest White…
When a Mexican cartel kidnapped a Baptist pastor, they got more than they bargained for
A Mexican cartel got more than it bargained for earlier this month by kidnapping Lorenzo Ortiz, an American pastor who operates shelters for asylum seekers and other migrants south of the U.S.-Mexico border. His abduction at 6 p.m. June 2…
Amid the refugees waiting in Mexico due to Title 42, a Russian nurse who opposes the war in Ukraine
A Fellowship Southwest-backed ministry in Mexico is housing a Russian asylum seeker who fled her country for protesting Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. The organization recently announced that Red de Albergues para Migrante — or the Migrant Shelter Network in…
Number of displaced persons worldwide hits new peak of 100 million
The war in Ukraine has driven the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide to a record-setting 100 million, according to the United Nations. The 90 million figure reached at the close of 2021 was quickly surpassed after Russia’s Feb. 24…
Trump’s anti-immigration policies continue to cost U.S. economy $9 billion a year
Trump-era refugee and asylum policies continue to rob the U.S. economy of $9.1 billion annually and deny all levels of American government more than $2 billion per year, according to new academic research. The study by economist Michael A. Clemens…