Migrants who arrived across the U.S.-Mexico border are pictured on a bus to their final U.S. destination with their host families. (Photo courtesy Sister Norberta Villasenor, OSF)Sept. 23, 2019Nicholas Wolfram SmithThe truth at the heart of the immigration crisis is straightforward, says Franciscan Sister Sheral Marshall.Were either all part of one human family and everyone deserves our respect, or certain people arent and if they arent, then we can do anything we want to them, said Sister Sheral, who is pastoral associate for liturgy at St. Robert Parish in San Bruno.She spoke Sept. 8 to about 50 people in the church sanctuary about her experience at the border. From Aug. 4-12, Sister Sheral volunteered at a Catholic Charities migrant shelter in Laredo, Texas, witnessing the humanity and gratitude of newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers.Theyre just ordinary people like us who happen to be born in a different place, she said.Part of her talk was to address the general confusion around migration and asylum, Sister Sheral said, emphasizing that both are enshrined in international law.People can emigrate if theyre in danger of persecution, or torture, or starving to death, she said.Sister Sheral also criticized an asylum process that has been made deliberately more difficult.Under a new Trump administration regulation issued on July 15, U.S. ports of entry have been closed to many asylum claims. According to the new rule, any person who failed to apply for protection from persecution or torture in a third country through which they transited en route to the United States cannot apply for asylum. If Central Americans, for example, cross Mexico without applying for asylum there, they cannot be granted it by the U.S.The third country policy was a violation of international law on refugees and has led to a severe decline in the number of migrants admitted, Sister Sheral said.One shelter employee told her only 16 people had been permitted to enter the country within a two-week span at the crossing in Laredo.As a result, she said, people have turned to coyotes, or smugglers, to take them across the border into the U.S where they turn themselves in to the Border Patrol. Desperation has led to steep costs for smuggling, she said, with the price of crossing as high as $8,000.Its an unbelievable situation, Sister Sheral said. If you hear people talking about illegal aliens, all I can think of is sci-fi movies. These people arent illegal, theyre undocumented, and they cant apply at the places they should.Sister Sheral also criticized the Trump administrations decision to end the Flores agreement, which since 1997 has limited the detention of migrant children to 20 days. Indefinite detention would have lifelong harmful psychological effects, she said.That its being done in our name is the horrible thing. Its not our values as a country, she said.The factors provoking immigration drought, violence, gangs and corruption, among others make it difficult to see how it will end, Sister Sheral said.Sending people back to the nations they fled is inhumane since they used all their resources to make the trip to the U.S., she said.Sister Sheral also pointed out that the violence and instability in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where many migrants have come from, exists in part because of U.S. involvement in their national affairs.Its such a mess and they dont deserve it, she said.Sister Sheral encouraged people to keep track of political developments around immigration, as well as to pray, write letters and donate to humanitarian organizations helping migrants.As for returning to the border, Sister Sheral said, I would love to go again but I dont know if anyone will be crossing.Franciscan Sister Sheral Marshall, seen during a recent visit to a migrant service shelter in Texas, said the migrants are given the address of the closest Catholic Charities to help find a lawyer for their immigration court hearing. (Photo courtesy Sister Norberta Villasenor, OSF)

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Franciscan sister says respect for migrants under threat - Catholic San Francisco