By Sue Weishar, Ph.D.
Migration theologian Fr. Daniel Groody suggests that the U.S.-Mexico border is more than an imaginary dividing line between two countries. Rather, a complex history and conflicting prerogatives have resulted in a border between “national security and human insecurity, sovereign rights and human rights, civil law and natural law, and citizenship and discipleship.” [1]
The eloquent testimony of a bordercrosser identified as Ignacio, interviewed by Miguel De La Torre in 2008, illustrates how the interplay of natural law, human insecurity, and the struggle for basic human rights compel migrants to risk their lives for an uncertain future in the United States:
It is crazy to cross the desert by foot. It is suicidal. If the extreme heat and lack of food and water don’t kill you, accidents, snake bites, or crooked coyotes set on robbing you of your life’s possessions will. We risk death not because we want to, or because we are foolhardy.
We risk death for the families left behind. Would you not cross a hundred deserts to feed your child? It may be crazy to cross, but we are not crazy, we are desperate. Even though I am a believer and put my trust in God, I'm still desperate...I simply could not provide the basic necessities for my children. I had to cross for their sake...