With so many needs on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and restrictions from COVID on the decline, participating in a wide range of missions opportunities is now a welcome option for church groups through Fellowship Southwest.

Remain in Mexico no more. In the midst of so much legal uncertainty, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday in Biden v. Texas that the President has discretionary authority to terminate the Migrant Protection Protocols, better known as the Remain in Mexico policy or MPP.

Fellowship Southwest enjoyed being in person at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, for the first time since 2019. There were many wonderful experiences during the week, but a highlight was surely a quick afternoon gathering of supporters in a hotel suite.

Elket Rodríguez is now an officially commissioned field personnel on behalf of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for his transformative work on the United States-Mexico border. "Field personnel" is the preferred terminology by CBF for what is more commonly called a missionary. Elket's work encompasses mission work, but it is so much more. As an attorney and a minister, Elket offers trainings and workshops to migrants and asylum seekers to help them navigate the legal immigration system. He advises the network of border pastors supported by Fellowship Southwest on U.S. and Mexican immigration policy. And he represents CBF and FSW in national immigration advocacy coalitions.

¿Cómo lo hacemos? Esa es la pregunta que se hace el pastor Eleuterio González cada vez que piensa en su ministerio con los migrantes en Matamoros, México –al otro lado del Río Grande con Brownsville, Texas. Durante casi tres años, González y la congregación que pastorea, la Iglesia Valle de Beraca, se han levantado temprano en la mañana para alimentar, albergar, transportar y proteger a los migrantes en la ciudad fronteriza.

How do we do it? That question keeps lingering in Pastor Eleuterio González’s mind every time he thinks about his ministry to migrants in Matamoros, Mexico –across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. For almost three years, he and the congregation he pastors, Iglesia Valle de Beraca, have woken up early each morning to feed, shelter, transport and protect migrants in the border town.

On Friday June 3, Fellowship Southwest executive director Stephen Reeves received a call from Terry Burton, a leader in the Border Collaboration Network and FSW supporter, with the terrifying news that Pastor Lorenzo Ortiz had been kidnapped. Lorenzo is a dear brother to Fellowship Southwest and a member of our border pastor network. He receives monthly support from the Knox Fund for Immigrant Relief for the three shelters he operates in Nuevo Laredo and one in Monterrey where he shelters, feeds, protects, and safely transport migrants who find themselves with nowhere to go in northern Mexico. A kidnapping like this is something we have always feared, since Nuevo Laredo is known as the most dangerous city in North America because of cartel activity.

I am a gun owner. A Remington 870 pump 12 gauge shotgun to be exact. I bought it while I was in law school in Lubbock close to family land I could hunt on. I enjoy quail and dove hunting. They are part of my family history, culture, and tradition.

For more than two months, Red de Albergues para Migrante (the Migrant Shelter Network or RAM) –an organization that operates 24 shelters in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, primarily in Juarez but as far as 100 miles west in the desert, in the village of Palomas, across the U.S. Mexico border with Columbus, New Mexico– has had an unusual guest: Russian Elena Nazarova.

Ten days before the massacre in our own region, there was Buffalo. Friend and partner to FSW, Starlette Thomas, offers this reflection in Good Faith Media of what transpired at her mom’s local grocery store and the racist conspiracy theory behind the attack.

Last week I wrote about the four words we hope define Fellowship Southwest - faithful, thoughtful, courageous and kind. I hope these characteristics also define our public witness. How do we, as a faith-based organization speak and act in the public square in response to the suffering and injustice we see and hope to help alleviate?

What can we do with so many migrants? This question kept lingering for months in Eleuterio Gonzalez’s mind, while he witnessed the arrival of thousands of migrants in Matamoros, Mexico –across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas and the city where he pastors Iglesia Valle de Beraca. And the answer to that question was simple, but it required a bold commitment: opening the doors of church members’ homes to welcome migrants.

Keen observers of our weekly newsletter might have noticed something a little different last week. The four descriptive words displayed prominently at the top of each addition had changed. For a while now Fellowship Southwest has described ourselves as faithful, agile, ecumenical and kind. We still hope these all describe our ministry. But two of these words seem to describe more of how we want to do our work, rather than the characteristics we hope to embody.

Starting today, Fellowship Southwest is accepting resumes for a full-time director of programs and outreach. This position will enable Fellowship Southwest to focus on expanding its ministry and mission capacity with churches who want to serve our region, as well as fostering new multi-racial and ecumenical relationships.

May 2 and 3 the FSW Board of Directors met for the biannual meeting in El Paso, Texas. While there, the board heard reports from executive director Stephen Reeves and other staff and close ministry partners. They also had the opportunity for a meaningful site visit with migrants in Palomas, Mexico.

St. Ignatius of Loyola has been credited with saying, “Pray with all five senses.” During the post-Easter retreat entitled “Nature as Spiritual Practice,” I had the pleasure of praying alongside fellow travelers from across the southwest in a variety of create ways tied to nature.

Thanks be to God, the state of Texas did NOT execute an innocent Latina mother yesterday.

When the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Melissa Lucio a stay of execution on Monday, they also directed Cameron County District Court to review the new evidence in her case. “It’s a pathbreaking decision,” The Washington Post reports. “It’s not merely a temporary stay of execution, it’s a potential opening to liberty.”

You have likely heard and read all about Melissa Lucio's tragic upcoming execution by the state of Texas, from us, from our partner Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the Innocence Project (screenshot above captured from Instagram @innocenceproject quoting FSW pastor Jesse Rincones), from the media (NPR, CBS, John Oliver, and many others).

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Biden v. Texas next week, April 26. This video is a great explanation about what is at stake. Watch until the very end, and learn how this case could set a dangerous precedent for the relationship between a president and the courts.

Need us to back up a little?

MPP stands for Migrant Protection Protocol, a misnomer if there ever was one. It is commonly referred to as "Remain in Mexico." It is one of the two Trump-era immigration policies that Fellowship Southwest has been outspoken against, along with Title 42.

Do you have a book you can say changed your life? I do. I was a freshman in college when I read “Dead Man Walking” by Sister Helen Prejean. It had a profound impact on what I thought, believed, and ultimately upon the trajectory of my life and career.

Since reading that book over 25 years ago I have been adamantly opposed to the death penalty. I recall this conviction as the first time I came to my own conclusion about an issue apart from what I gleaned from my community, culture, and family. It certainly influenced my decision to pursue law school and once there take an advanced criminal law course on the death penalty in Texas.