Migrant Posada

     Mary was riding on a burro, and Joseph was walking beside her, as they traveled by the Nogales border wall in search of shelter during the Migrant Posada.   A cold rain was falling, but for a brief moment, the sun came out and a rainbow appeared. 

     Posadas recreate the journey from 2,000 years ago as Mary and Joseph are refused lodging at various stations along the way and finally welcomed in at the end of the procession.  The Migrant Posada was organized by the Kino Border Initiative and Dioceses without Borders as an act of solidarity with our undocumented sisters and brothers.

     The first station was at the Nogales wall which was built by the Clinton administration in 1994, just four months after he visited the site of the former Berlin Wall.  “Wherever there’s a wall, there’s a closure of the heart,” read a banner attached to the wall.  Those were the words spoken by Pope Francis last month on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

     At each station, the people outside in the procession sing to ask for lodging.  The people inside sing in response that there is no room.  “In the name of justice, I ask you to let me in.  I will not cause you harm, I just want to work,” sang the people on the south side of the wall.  “We have thousands of agents that protect our borders, and you won’t get across even through the cracks,” responded the people on the north side.

     Separation of families was the theme of the second station.  “In the name of justice, I ask for your support and solidarity.  Separated from my children, my heart is broken,” sang the deportees.  “I don’t care about what you’re going through, stop you’re crying.  The children that you left behind, you are not going to see again,” was the response.

     There was a moment of silence at the third station to remember the thousands of people who have died in the desert.  “We’re half a family, deported without pity.  The children are left crying, lamenting that they are orphans,” sang the people outside.  “We don’t want you to come here, stay over there.  The purity of the race could become contaminated” replied the people inside.

     Mary and Joseph were finally welcomed at the last station which was the Kino Border Initiative dining hall where recently deported migrants receive two meals a day.  There we all sang, “Let’s celebrate without borders or barriers, people who thirst for justice.  Today we will work and struggle together for justice and dignity.”