Immigration

United Methodist deaconess Cindy Johnson regularly visits with migrants living in a tent camp in Matamoros, Mexico, while they seek asylum in the United States. Fear of the coronavirus has stopped people like Johnson from being able to minister to them face-to-face. Photo courtesy of Cindy Johnson.

Pandemic threatening ministry with migrants

United Methodists are helping but are hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which separates them from face-to-face interaction with migrants.

Mission and Ministry

Ruth Moreno shows her brother, Lino, how to keep his hands warm as the sun rises behind them on the Santa Fe Bridge over the Rio Grande in Juárez, Mexico. They make the two-hour cross-border journey each school day to attend the United Methodist Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Lydia Patterson Institute is a dream maker for young students

The United Methodist college-preparatory school is supported by the South Central Jurisdiction and many local churches and individuals provide scholarships.

Immigration

Jesús, a migrant from Michoacán state in Western Mexico, tries to shield his 1-year-old daughter, Kataleya, from a cold drizzle falling at the tent encampment where they are living at the foot of the Paso del Norte Bridge in Juárez, Mexico. Michoacán is among five states in Mexico given the highest-risk “do not travel” warning by the U.S. State Department.

Summit leads United Methodists to heart of border woes

The United Methodist Immigration Task Force traveled to El Paso, Las Cruces, and Juárez to see effects of immigration policy that is keeping migrants stuck in Mexico.

Immigration

Ramiro Ramirez speaks at a Nov. 14 press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, protesting the proposed border wall. The wall would run through the property of Jackson Chapel United Methodist Church in San Juan, Texas, and two historic cemeteries. His great-grandfather donated land for the church, established in 1874. Photo by Erik Alsgaard, UM News.

Help sought to save historic church, cemeteries

The border wall would cut off two cemeteries and a historic United Methodist church.

Sign up for our newsletter!

umnews-subscriptions