Loretto Co-members Lead Group on Border Journey

By Amanda Koehler Schutz

Editor’s Note: Amanda Koehler Schutz is a friend of Loretto in Minneapolis.

Just days before our “Welcome the Stranger” delegation departed for our U.S./Mexico border trip, Simone Campbell challenged us while speaking to our church, St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis. Simone asked us to learn from each other and share each others’ stories so that perhaps we can interrupt the false narratives of undocumented immigrants and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across borders.

We found ourselves in the open arms of three Loretto co-members when we joined together in Tucson, Ariz. With brief introductions and statements of purpose, Eileen Harrington, Sally Dunne and Carolyn Jaramillo led us on a three-day (and night) journey to uncover the myths around immigration and discover the humanity that exists when desperation meets courage.

Our group of 10 from Minnesota and three from Loretto followed the cycle of undocumented immigration. Our first day, we watched 70 men and women deported in a matter of hours in front of our eyes as part of Operation Streamline. We learned about the historical nature of the sanctuary church movement and how it continues to thrive today. We held candles and prayed under a full moon for those who have lost their lives crossing our southern border.

Day two involved crossing the border from Nogales, Ariz., to Nogales, Mexico. Carolyn had made this journey many times and helped ease our worries about the crossing. We started with a visit to the site where a young teen had been gunned down by a U.S. border guard from through the wall. Then we were off to HEPAC (Home of Hope and Peace), a neighborhood NGO helping to feed and educate adults and children. All of us crowded into a small room to listen to women share their harrowing stories at Casa Nazaret, a women’s shelter. It was at this shelter where we recognized one of the women from the previous day’s court proceedings. Finally, after bowing our heads together in prayer, we served meals to newly deported migrants at El Comedor. We worked side by side while cleaning tables and washing dishes. Men and women shared story after story with us in both English and Spanish about how they were deported and whom they were leaving behind in the United States, typically a spouse and children.
Our final full day centered around assisting another organization, “No More Deaths,” to deliver water and food aid to places in the desert just outside of Arivaca, Ariz., where undocumented migrants were known to pause in their long and treacherous trek across the Sonoran Desert. Each of us was humbled at the site of broken backpacks, ripped clothing and even shoes left behind. The emotion was high. If I sit back now and allow it, the feelings will come back. My breathing will quicken and go deeper all at the same time. I swallow more. The back of my throat feels different, and there’s a buzzing that occurs from my head to my chest. Feeling this is important. Feeling this makes me human and reminds me of the men, women and children who feel these emotions without a choice. Daily. Hourly. Right now.

One of the most profound moments came in our final hours of reflection. As we sat in Eileen’s living room in Tucson, one of our “Welcome the Stranger” members read Rachel Naomi Remen’s essay entitled “Helping, Fixing or Serving.” I don’t think I could have picked a more perfect reading. It was so poignant to our experiences throughout our time in Tucson, Nogales and Arivaca. If we can focus most on standing in solidarity with others and serving alongside them, we will be able to let go of our need to fix and help. Our guides, the co-members of Loretto, modeled this for our “Welcome the Stranger” group in every way.

My four days with our “Welcome the Stranger” delegation and Loretto co-members were full of service and acts of solidarity. We stood in places where people were fighting for life; where people were in too deep to turn back; where women and men carried children across the desert under moonlight, where humanity is at risk.

The Lenten message, “Changing hearts of stone to hearts of flesh,” was realized during this trip for all involved, and humanity was rediscovered in the most desperate of places.