Rubén García does not feel holy. But at 75 years old he has a strength that one would say is divine, that time has not been able to wear down. This tall, well-built man, with a good-natured air, enters the Casa Papa Francisco, an old abandoned convent where he houses 25 undocumented immigrants who have arrived from Mexico, and not for a single second, answering calls, supervising the kitchen, seeing if three Girls who have arrived on foot from Colombia are fine, if they need anything. It is inconceivable that someone like García, who speaks of peace, quotes the Gospel and goes out of his way to help immigrants who come to his arms terrified and in extreme need, has become some kind of public enemy number one for the State of Texas. But that’s how it is. He receives ABC in a place that the state attorney general has declared to be a nest of criminals, the dismal lair of an entire white slave trafficking network. But here, in this refuge in the city of El Paso, in Texas, there is an altar, with a large cross and luminous stained glass windows showing Christ and the Virgin. In the rooms, a family from Guatemala takes care of their son and the three Colombian girls knit some bags to pass the time. This certainly does not seem like a criminal den. Related News Standard campaign diary If Trump and Obama, staunch enemies, meet in the decisive Atlanta Javier Ansorena and David Alandete There are two weeks left until the elections in the United States and Republicans and Democrats redouble their efforts to mobilize the electorateAsked about the charges against him, which are now in the Texas Supreme Court, García makes a gesture of resignation, and quotes some verses from Matthew: «Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and we do not serve you? Attorney General Ken Paxton alleges that the non-governmental organization that García has run since 1978, Annunciation House, is facilitating illegal immigration. According to the lawsuit, this organization operates openly in violation of the law, crossing into Mexico to bring people to the United States who have been rejected by the Border Patrol. The politician seeks the closure of the entire network of shelters, and García, who denies all charges, prefers not to talk about the possibility of him requesting jail time. “At the moment it hasn’t happened, so it’s better not to think about it,” he says. Modest sheltersWhat worries García, nicknamed in El Paso and outside of it “the saint of the border,” is what is going to happen to these immigrants, these “foreigners,” as he calls them, using again the words of Saint Mateo, if they close these modest shelters. At this time, about 300 people live in its network of six residences, but in the hard times of mass arrivals, when more than 4,500 people crossed through El Paso alone daily, it accommodated 1,500 at a time. For decades, he has received, given food, toiletries, a bed… and helped them continue their lives, without asking many questions. He admits that, generally, there is only one, and out of curiosity: “Why are they fleeing?” “In 1978, when we began to receive immigrants in our shelters, we already asked them that, and they always told us two things: I’m scared and I can’t eat. Now, 46 years later, wherever they come from, from Guatemala, from Colombia, from Peru, more and more from Venezuela, they tell us the same thing: I am hungry and I can’t eat,” he says. “It’s still the same.” Rubén García, known as “the saint of the border” D. ALANDETE “We are neither police nor jailers, immigrants are welcomed here, they are not locked up” Rubén García Regent of the House of Annunciation in El PasoWhen García and other Catholic laymen began their work to receive and care for undocumented immigrants, he wrote to Mother Teresa, whom he had met a few years earlier. She responded by letter encouraging him to “announce the good news,” which gave rise to the name of his first shelter and the network that grew afterward. He estimates that he has already helped more than a million people in all this time. At first, the shelter occupied only the second floor of a building next to the border, donated by the Catholic diocese of El Paso. Their mission began with a single guest and gradually grew. Today, in these houses live mothers, children, people fleeing the most abject violence, threats of death and rape, extortion, such bitterness that the only option left is to flee to a border that is considered the most dangerous in the world. . The offensive of Paxton, the attorney general, who has set himself the objective of ending irregular immigration at all costs, has reached the ears of another famous Catholic, Pope Francis himself, who in June described Paxton’s attacks against García as “crazy.” During an interview with an American media outlet, the Pope expressed his rejection of Paxton’s lawsuit, which failed in court in July but was appealed, and stated: “The migrant must be received.” Collaboration with the PoliceIt is also clear that not all The authorities in the US agree with this Paxton offensive. Although the relationship between Annunciation House and border enforcement agencies was initially strained, in 2014 García began working more closely with Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That year they agreed that the House of the Annunciation would receive families under certain conditions imposed by García, such as guaranteeing their freedom of movement. “We are neither police nor jailers, immigrants are welcomed here, they are not locked up,” he says. Every morning, just after five in the morning, without the sun having risen, García receives a message from the border authorities , which tell you how many people will come in under a new appointment program to apply for asylum. He prepares to receive them as they slowly cross the bridge that connects Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, passing one immigration filter after another, in a delay of hours. Immigrants near Ciudad Juárez wait for their opportunity to cross the border REUTERSRight now they are mostly Venezuelan families, with small children, who have crossed the dangerous Darién Gap on foot and have survived drug trafficking in Mexico. “They are victims twice, in their countries of origin and on this journey,” says García. At least they know that in El Paso a plate of food and a bed to rest awaits them, thanks to the work of García, who finances his shelters mainly with donations, trying to renounce any public aid, which he has accepted only in very punctually. These people arrive exhausted, terrified and, at the same time, relieved to have left Ciudad Juárez behind, one of those places in the world where life seems to have no value. In the midst of an election campaign, the White House has found a formula to reduce illegal crossings: hot returns. There have been ten million crossings during Biden’s presidency, more than 1.3 million in El Paso alone. Since summer, immigrants who cross illegally cannot apply for asylum if crossings exceed 2,500 daily. Thus, the deportation of more than 70% of detained families and adults has been accelerated. Increase in expulsions These policies have reduced illegal crossings by 78% since December 2023, with more than 121,000 deportations under the new guidelines. It is something that confuses García, how a Democratic administration, led by a famous Catholic, has increased expulsions. Meanwhile, Trump promises to finish the border wall that began during his Administration. Immigration is inflaming the campaign. Mexico agrees to take care of the bulk of these immigrants, who are condemned to stay in that country, where white slavery is the order of the day, or to return to that place from which they fled due to hunger and fear . García, who does not criticize, but says everything with a serious look, affirms that he does not know what agreement Mexico and the US have, but he finds it striking that in the middle of the campaign this refund program is so effective. “Mexico has always had problems helping to reduce immigration, but now, suddenly, it is even capable of stopping it,” he says. The persecution in Texas is not, for García, the worst moment. He says this was by far the death of Juan Patricio Peraza, a 19-year-old who was killed by the Border Patrol in 2003 while living in this house. García continues to commemorate the tragedy with an annual mass in Peraza’s honor.
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