Bishop Neary visits U.S-Mexico Border, witnesses challenges firsthand

Bishop Patrick Neary visited the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas, with other U.S. bishops Aug. 22 to 25 to discuss immigration issues and witness migrants’ experiences.
The bishop has prioritized getting to know the immigrants living and working across the St. Cloud Diocese’s 16 counties. The border visit was an opportunity to learn more about the challenges facing immigrants coming to the United States.
“Latinos are close to my heart, and I am always concerned with how migrants are treated, how they’re seen, how they’re talked about,” Bishop Neary said.
The Texas meetings included presentations by border patrol officials, Bishop Mark J. Seitz from the Diocese of El Paso and the executive director of Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley and Sister Norma Pimentel. Bishop Neary’s time in McAllen also included visits to the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Crisis Respite Center, the border crossing and the Marian shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.
“One of the bishops made a comment that we’ve built walls in our hearts to keep us from accepting migrants,” Bishop Neary said. “We paint them as criminals, as invaders, causing chaos and violence. So, we build walls in our hearts, and we won’t let them in.”

At the Respite Center, a place where migrants can rest, shower and have meals, Bishop Neary heard firsthand stories about hardships migrants face: having to choose between leaving one’s home country or having a daughter forced into human trafficking, being robbed of all possessions on the journey, being kidnapped by drug cartels and having to ask struggling family members to sell possessions to pay the ransom for release.
“What we were told by some of the officials is you’re better off reporting yourself to the border patrol and asking for asylum than remaining in the hands of the cartels,” Bishop Neary said. “Some people may say, ‘Why can’t they apply the normal way? Why can’t they seek a visa?’ The fact of the matter is that it’s hard for people who have no money to know what to do.
“It was disheartening to realize how hard it is for anyone coming to the country to ever get citizenship. It says on our Statue of Liberty, ‘Send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.’ But we don’t adhere to that,” Bishop Neary said. “Can’t we ask ourselves, ‘What if this was me? What if it was my family? How would I feel about this?’”
On Sept. 29, the Church observes World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

In his message marking the observance, Pope Francis said people should “see in the migrants of our time, as in those of every age, a living image of God’s people on their way to the eternal homeland.”
According to the Vatican News website, there were an estimated 281 million international migrants in the world in 2020, which equates to 3.6 percent of the global population, and the number continues to rise.
Bishop Neary encourages people of the diocese to pray for their leaders and embrace the Holy Father’s message to remember “the encounter with the migrant, as with every brother and sister in need, is also an encounter with Christ.”