On Tuesday, June 4, President Joe Biden declared an executive order to block migrant asylum at the southern border when an average of 2,500 seekers are encountered daily. See a full report at apnews.com.
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Eileen McKenzie currently ministers with Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Arizona, United States of America, and in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The organization is sharing the message, “The Day That Needed Fewer Statements And More Listening,” by KBI Executive Director Joanna Williams, about her reaction to the announcement: “I walked out of my office and shared the news with the migrant families at our aid center. The people whose lives this decision would actually impact. Four families gathered around me … The only question they had was “why?”.
“What if President Biden and the Congresspeople and the mayors and the ordinary people in cities across the US had chosen to listen yesterday, and in the weeks and months leading up to yesterday, instead of preparing statements? What if they’d sat and looked into the faces of the three moms and a dad who surrounded me?”
Williams is also featured in the CBS News report, "Biden border action prompts concern among migrant advocates: "People are going to have fewer options to access protection," saying that "what this rule means is that someone who's fleeing violence, who's seeking safety, who's not able to get one of those lucky few appointments on CBP One, their other option is to try to go out to the desert to avoid border protection patrol." When asked about her perception of deterrence policies, such as asylum restriction, she responds, "What they lead to is an increase in deaths."
Sister Eileen responds to the administrative action and its impact on those she serves — families and individuals fleeing humanitarian crises: “These are clear calls to our FSPA mission to build bridges of relationships that stretch us to be people of encounter with all suffering in our Earth community.
“Clear calls to create authentic unity in diversity by challenging our white and working toward equity and inclusion of all.”
KBI has also shared this statement from The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, an organization providing free legal services, social services and advocacy to immigrants facing detention and potential deportation."
