Families from the Northern Triangle of Central America often cite poverty as a leading cause to migrate north. Usually unseen are the larger causes that contribute to poverty in Central America — the acts of violence that target vulnerable families and the U.S. involvement in the destabilization of these countries.
Multiple false narratives have vilified mothers, children, and families who are seeking a safer and more stable future. Many have appropriated this moment for political gain, painting these people's plight as a “national emergency” that is to be met by armed troops.
Others point to national security, emphasizing the presence of Africans and Middle Easterners among the people in the "caravan," seemingly to stoke fear. And other responses portray immigrants as disease-carrying agents, even “lepers” that will infect people in the U.S. and create a public health crisis.
Fear can prevent us from hearing and receiving the many gifts that immigrant families bring with them. Fear will only drive us further from love and further away from each other.
Most often, God comes into the world in the form of those we least expect: the blind, the leper, the foreign woman, and now, these immigrant families.
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