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.”
