CIUDAD\nJUAREZ, Mexico (CNA) — Following an August announcement\nfrom the Knights of Columbus that the group would commit at least $250,000 to\naid migrants at the US-Mexico border, the fraternal organization\u2019s Texas\nleaders are announcing a joint effort with a Mexican council to aid migrants\nsouth of the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A caravan of Knights of Columbus\nfrom both Texas and Mexico arrived Oct. 5 at Casa del Migrante, an aid facility\nin Ciudad Juarez, delivering a truckload of supplies valued at $61,000,\naccording to Terry Simonton, the Knights\u2019 Supreme Director for Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The supplies for the Juarez\ndiocese-run facility included medicine, food, water, diapers, and shoes, he\nsaid. The over 40 Knight-volunteers were joined by Bishop Jos\u00e9 Guadalupe\nTorres-Campos of Ciudad Juarez and Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Knights in El Paso were already\nproviding supplies, cooking meals, and paying for a rented shower for migrants\nin the city. In May, the Knights\u2019 Diocesan Deputy for El Paso sent a request\nfor additional funds which made its way to Simonton, who talked it over and\nrealized that the Supreme Council in Connecticut would have to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c [The El Paso Knights] were renting the showers and they were\ngetting donations to cover that expense \u2014 and renting those showers was $1,500\na day,\u201d Simonton, a former state deputy in Texas, explained to CNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was the kind of shower that sits on a trailer, and it was\n$1,500 a day. So the more we looked into it, it said they were asking for\n$9,000 to purchase their own portable heated showers. And that would\naccommodate probably 60 showers per day…it just made sense to purchase the\nshowers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simonton asked the Supreme Council\nto cover half the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey liked the idea, but when it got to the table, and the\nSupreme Knight, Carl Anderson, said \u2018Yes we need to help, but we must do more.\u2019\nAnd that’s when Carl Anderson started the initiative to help out Southern\nborder. Without his vision, this would have never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said a number of parishes and\nvirtually all the Knight of Columbus councils in El Paso have been busy,\nespecially since January, raising funds for border relief. Council 11926 and\nCouncil 2592 in El Paso had raised about $10,000 on their own to help migrants\nin the city, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBetween the councils and the parishes, they\u2019d already spent\n$54,000,\u201d Simonton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the councils were involved in this in El Paso. But their\nfunds were being depleted, so that\u2019s why they came to us for help. And just out\nof that simple, $9,000 request, has come this tremendous initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were about 75 migrants present\nat the Casa del Migrante Oct. 5 \u2014 out of an estimated 20,000 migrants currently\nwaiting in Ciudad Juarez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be able to see the little kids, they were so happy to be\nthere at that center. Because we don\u2019t know what they faced two or three days\nbefore then, before they got to the center. So it\u2019s sad, but at the same time\nthey\u2019re happy, they\u2019re all smiles, because soon hopefully they\u2019ll be able to\ncontinue their journey with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To watch the Knights of Columbus\nfrom both the Mexico and the United States work together was a \u201ctremendous\nblessing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Possibly as soon as late October,\nSimonton said the Knights plan to go and provide similar aid at the border city\nof Laredo, which is across the fence from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, as well as\nEagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Knights also recently made gifts\nfor humanitarian aid of $100,000 to the Diocese of El Paso and $50,000 to the\nDiocese of Laredo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet me be clear: this is not a\npolitical statement,\u201d Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in August. \u201cThis is a\nstatement of principle. This is about helping people who need our help right\nnow. And it is a natural and necessary extension of our support for refugees\nacross the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bishop Seitz, along with Catholic\nleaders of the Dioceses of Las Cruces, San Jose, Victoria, and Ciudad Juarez\ntoured the Casa del Migrante in late September as well as a Ciudad Juarez\nparish that has been providing aid to migrants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Homeland Security\nannounced new Migrant Protection Protocols in January, providing that migrants\narriving illegally or without proper documentation \u201cmay be returned to Mexico\nand wait outside of the U.S. for the duration of their immigration proceedings,\nwhere Mexico will provide them with all appropriate humanitarian protections\nfor the duration of their stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These policies have meant the flow\nof migrants into El Paso has largely dried up, as thousands of migrants remain\nin Mexico while their asylum claims are processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The migrants in Mexico are mostly\nfrom Central America, but also from other places including Africa, Haiti, Cuba,\nand some from South America and Europe, the Knights said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bishop Seitz told CNA in September\nthat the diocese opened a shelter in Oct. 2018 at the pastoral center, a \u201cpurely\nvolunteer response,\u201d to deal with the large number of people passing through\nthe city. The temporary shelter has since closed due to a drop in the number of\nmigrants passing through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRight now, we\u2019ve seen a huge drop off in the number of\npeople coming because of enforcement actions in Mexico,\u201d Seitz noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo what\u2019s happening is there\u2019s kind of a bottleneck in\nCiudad Juarez, and we estimate that there are up to 20,000 people that are\npretty much stuck there. They\u2019re afraid to go home, because that\u2019s where\nthey’re fleeing from … they\u2019re afraid to stay in Mexico, because most of them\nhave faced violence there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robberies and kidnappings among the\nmigrants waiting in Mexico are common, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The HOPE Border Institute, along\nwith the Diocese of El Paso, in July initiated a Border Refugee Assistance Fund\nto send money to organizations working with migrants and refugees in Juarez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (CNA) — Following an August announcement from the Knights of Columbus that the group would commit at least $250,000 to aid migrants at the US-Mexico border, the fraternal organization\u2019s Texas leaders are announcing a joint effort with a Mexican council to aid migrants south of the border. A caravan of Knights of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[1238,1237,1006],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n