Clergyman walking with caravan in Mexico
It’s difficult to understand how asylum-seekers from Central America are making their way to the U.S. border, thousands of them together and on foot for almost a month now, apparently without major incident or funding.
Critics have raised suspicions about how such large groups are managing to stay on track. Some think they’re backed by a nefarious source. Conspiracy theorists have imagined billionaire George Soros as underwriter of the massive convoy, though no evidence of that has been uncovered.
All over the world and throughout human existence, however, migrants have been in constant motion by any means necessary, fueled by one driving force: desperation.
Clergyman Gavin Rogers, an adventurer by nature, left San Antonio on Friday and flew to Mexico City to get a firsthand look, to “walk among” — as he put it — the group of Honduran migrants he estimated at several thousand.
The associate pastor of Travis Park United Methodist Church and host of the popular Pub Theology group has done this sort of thing before. Several years ago, he took in a homeless man as a roommate. He has gone on dozens of mission trips to Central America and traveled to Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood burned down Coptic churches.
On Saturday morning, Rogers left a stadium with asylum-seekers who’d been resting for a few days. He shared his observations, photos and interviews over the weekend via phone and Facebook.
By Sunday, he was atop a flatbed trailer along with hundreds of others. The thankfully slow, free ride was short, before the driver asked them to hop off so he could get to his own destination.
Rogers didn’t see any real financing, just cooperation and the charity of ordinary Mexicans. Evangelical preachers offered words; nuns gave them oranges. U.S. politicians have characterized the migrants as criminals, but Rogers noted, “The criminals are the ones they are fleeing.”
The young people — because only the young can — making the trip sought to travel in numbers and thus in safety.
The caravan has quasi-selfappointed leaders, among them members of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, an immigrant rights group that has organized caravans before to help migrants get to their destinations safely. “They create spaces and movement,” Rogers said. Some are collegeage activists carrying megaphones, though Rogers said he never heard them used.
The caravan moves successfully from encampment to encampment partly because the Mexican government has responded as it would during a natural disaster, providing shelter. It offered free subway rides out of Mexico City this weekend.
U.N. aid workers can be found at encampments, too, Rogers said, noting that there is some wariness between Pueblos Sin Fronteras and U.N. representatives. He has talked with them, and with police, too, helped by his roommate, who accompanied him and is translating.
The walk has thus far been peaceful, Rogers said, and he has found joy along the way. He recorded interviews with Hondurans who spoke of government corruption, extreme poverty, lack of work, places without hope and opportunity, the criminalization of entire towns.
Rogers knows some people hear asylum-seekers say they’re seeking a better life and hear, “They’re going to steal our jobs.” But for refugees, a better life just means life, he said, adding, “They’re not out to steal anything.”
“Some of my moderate and conservative friends say, ‘Why don’t they stay in Mexico?’ because Mexico is offering them aid to do so,” he said. Some have. Others say they’re not sure Mexico can offer them opportunities.
As far as he can tell, no rightor left-wing source is paying for anything in the caravan he joined. A few people have died en route, he learned. One man carried an umbrella belonging to one of the dead. He told Rogers he’s taking it to the U.S. border in his memory.
The migrants are carrying all their belongings on their backs — blankets, tents, clothes, hats, whatever money they had. When they get to shelter, they charge phones and check in with loved ones.
Some walkers are offered short rides. They’re spontaneous, like the driver who offered a lift on the back of his flatbed truck. Bus fares are cheap, but Rogers didn’t see any asylumseekers shell out money for it. They’re poor. But none have asked him for money.
One Mexican town passed out food. Rogers got a can of tuna, “organic, straight up,” he said.
They walk fast, he said, even women with strollers — “I can barely keep up,” Rogers said — and they stick together. He took selfies with some. The children smiled.
And amid the suffering and stories of suffering, he said, “there is a crazy amount of joy and love.”