Where are the Baptists on the border?

[Sandy]

https://cbfblog.com/2019/07/17/you-can- ... co-border/

CBF is apparently there in force.

[Haruo]

Particularly interesting to me that a lot of the refugees are from Congo. I have lots of friends in the eastern part of the DRC, and some of them definitely count as persecuted and in danger. One in particular, Dankon Kwibe, is especially eager to come to the US as a refugee. I keep trying to dissuade him, because of the Trump administration's attitudes on Africans, people of color, and refugees, and because the paperwork I've looked at looks like it's designed to result in failure of the application. But I wonder how so many Congolese refugees end up coming in from Mexico

[JE Pettibone]

Particularly interesting to me that a lot of the refugees are from Congo. I have lots of friends in the eastern part of the DRC, and some of them definitely count as persecuted and in danger. One in particular, Dankon Kwibe, is especially eager to come to the US as a refugee. I keep trying to dissuade him, because of the Trump administration's attitudes on Africans, people of color, and refugees, and because the paperwork I've looked at looks like it's designed to result in failure of the application. But I wonder how so many Congolese refugees end up coming in from Mexico

Ed: Haruo, I have also wondered how (and why) so many Congolese come in through Mexico. But please explain to me why you have dissuaded Dankon Kwibe from coming to the US as a refugee. after all at the most Trump will only be President for five and a half more years and possibly only a year and a half. Also I am wondering what "Trump administration's attitudes on Africans, people of color, and refugees", do you see as potentially problematic for your friend?

[Haruo]

I'm not allowed to go into detail on the administration's/president's attitudes because of the language involved. I have dissuaded him mainly because I can't figure how he could get here. We don't have the wherewithal to sponsor and support him in a meaningful way, because it would involve his either bringing his wife and baby daughter with him (much added expense) or leaving them there, probably more in harm's way than if he were there. Plus the paperwork I've seen is not comprehensible even for me. He knows little English (and no Spanish). Etc. And I'm not sure how much actual danger he's in. More than, say, in Chicago? I don't know. I haven't actually told him he shouldn't come, just that I'm not sure he should and I don't see how I can help him beyond moral support. And that I haven't been able to figure out the paperwork.

And my understanding is that the administration wants to make it impossible to come in as a refugee through an intervening country.

[JE Pettibone]

I'm not allowed to go into detail on the administration's/president's attitudes because of the language involved. I have dissuaded him mainly because I can't figure how he could get here. We don't have the wherewithal to sponsor and support him in a meaningful way, because it would involve his either bringing his wife and baby daughter with him (much added expense) or leaving them there, probably more in harm's way than if he were there. Plus the paperwork I've seen is not comprehensible even for me. He knows little English (and no Spanish). Etc. And I'm not sure how much actual danger he's in. More than, say, in Chicago? I don't know. I haven't actually told him he shouldn't come, just that I'm not sure he should and I don't see how I can help him beyond moral support. And that I haven't been able to figure out the paperwork.

And my understanding is that the administration wants to make it impossible to come in as a refugee through an intervening country.

Ed: Thanks Haruo for the reply, however have no idea what the forst sentence means.

I nave mixed thoughts about imigrant fathers leaving a wife and children in the home contry but believe each family must make that decision on their own. I have no idea what the cost would be, I do think that someone with sufficient interest could find enough people with similar interest to put it together. And one or more of those may be able to wade through the paper work with you.

[Haruo]

The President's words that would address the question the first sentence begged off addressing were phrased in language not permitted on this forum. The general sentiment was revisited a week or so ago in his opening diatribe against four members of Congress.

[Dave Roberts]

CBF has a strong resettlement work in the Raleigh-Durham area of NC with Marc and Kim Wyatt, Hispanic work in Fredericksburg, VA with Greg and Sue Smith, CBF Texas is very involved on both sides of the border in the Rio Grande Valley with Jorge Zapata, and the overall Hispanic coordinator is Reuben Ortiz. I don't know directly how that might help, but those are the resources I know. Also, Canadian Baptists have a strong refugee ministry that gets much quicker incorporation into their society than is allowed in the US>

[Tim Bonney]

And my understanding is that the administration wants to make it impossible to come in as a refugee through an intervening country.

If I'm understanding the press reports correctly, they'd likely make him apply for asylum in Mexico.