{"id":673317,"date":"2019-01-31T05:42:12","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T12:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=673317"},"modified":"2019-01-31T19:34:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T02:34:29","slug":"churches-in-southern-nm-offer-shelter-to-migrant-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2019\/01\/churches-in-southern-nm-offer-shelter-to-migrant-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Churches in southern NM offer shelter to migrant families"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Melani

Don Usner \/ Searchlight New Mexico<\/p>

Nearly every week for the past six months, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral in Las Cruces has provided food, shelter and clothing for a dozen or more migrant families released from immigration detention. Many have fled violence and poverty in Central America in hopes of gaining asylum in the U.S. Melani and her father Lucas Juan came from Jacaltenango and were on their way to Phoenix.<\/p><\/div>\n

ANTHONY, N.M. \u2013 Parents and children stumbled off the steps of an old charter bus to waves of applause and shouts of \u201cBienvendidos!\u201d A small crowd of volunteers from St. Anthony\u2019s Catholic Church had been waiting in the cold night air on a recent Monday, eager to welcome yet another wave of migrants just released from immigration detention in El Paso, Texas. <\/span><\/p>\n

Inside, the parish hall was toasty, and volunteers were piling paper plates with fried chicken and mashed potatoes for the tired and hungry arrivals. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to see that even though they have been locked up, they are making a transition to where they finally feel free,\u201d said Jorge N\u00fa\u00f1ez, a volunteer in Anthony who himself was brought from Mexico to the U.S. as a child in the 1960s. \u201cWe start clapping. It gives them that welcome feeling: \u2018Now we\u2019re not just a number. We are individuals, and these people are showing us love.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n