A Prayer for Asylum Seekers Being Tear-Gassed at the Border

Creator God, open our eyes so we can see you in the eyes of our migrant kin as they flee violence and seek asylum.

Compassionate God, open our ears to hear the cries of the suffering, children being tear-gassed and turned away at the border.

God of Justice, who crosses all boundaries, give us courage to resist, to say NO to criminalizing those legally seeking asylum.

Give us the strength to stand with and for your inclusive love, faith to believe another world is necessary and possible, and courage to speak truth to power.

Let it begin with us.

Amen.

– Source

The situation in Tijuana is a humanitarian crisis. These are families that made an incredibly difficult decision to flee the conditions created by US imperialist policies in their homelands – and the US has a responsibility and the capability to help protect these people. The Trump Administration has already wasted nearly $300 million using the military as a political toy just to energize his base – attempting to villainize an extremely desperate/vulnerable population. Today the most powerful nation on Earth attacked peaceful people seeking asylum.

– Rob Wilson
via Facebook
November 25, 2018

NEXT: Something to Think About


Related Off-site Links:
U.S. Agents Shoot Tear Gas at Migrants Attempting to Breach Mexican Border – Associated Press/Reuters via ABC News (November 25, 2018).
U.S. Agents Fire Tear Gas as Some Migrants Try to Breach Fence – Christopher Sherman (Associated Press via PBS Newshour, November 26, 2018).
Children "Screaming and Coughing in the Mayhem" as Trump Border Patrol Fires Tear Gas Into Mexico – Common Dreams (November 25, 2018).
U.S. Agents Just Fired Tear Gas on Migrants Near the San Diego-Tijuana Border – Bryan Schatz (Mother Jones, November 25, 2018).
What Tear Gas Does to Its Victims – Bob Sorokanich (Gizmodo, August 14, 2014).
Trump Suggested Troops Will Shoot Migrants Who Throw Rocks at the Border – Brianna Sacks (Buzz Feed, November 2, 2018).
"Tear Gassing Children Is Outrageous and Inhumane": U.S. Condemned for Violence Against Asylum Seekers – Jon Queally (Common Dreams, November 26, 2018).
Fox News Contributor Tomi Lahren Says Watching Migrants Get Hit with Tear Gas Was "Highlight of My Thanksgiving Weekend" – Greg Price (Newsweek, November 26, 2018).
Conservatives Are Employing Any Possible Logic to Defend the Tear-Gassing of Migrants – Molly Olmstead (Slate, November 26, 2018).
I Traveled with the Migrant Caravan – Here Is the Story Behind the Photographs – Spencer Platt (Newsweek, November 26, 2018).
The Debt We Owe Central America – Miles Culpepper (Jacobin, November 1, 2018).

UPDATES: Congress Urged to Freeze Border Patrol Funding Until Trump Ends "Illegal" Treatment of Asylum Seekers at US-Mexico Border – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, November 27, 2018).
Obama Administration Used Tear Gas and Pepper Spray at the Border Dozens of Time, CBP Data Shows – Chantal Da Silva (Newsweek, November 27, 2018).
Stop the Assault on Asylum Seekers – James Martin, S.J. (America, November 27, 2018).

Image 1: A migrant family, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, run away from tear gas in front of the border wall between the U.S and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico November 25, 2018. (Photo: Reuters)
Image 2: Tijuana, Mexico – November 25, 2018. (Photographer unknown)
Image 3: A migrant girl from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, cries after running away from tear gas thrown by the U.S. Border Control near the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico in Tijuana, Mexico – November 25, 2018. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
Images 4-5: Tijuana, Mexico – November 25, 2018. (Photographer unknown)
Image 6: Central American migrants run along the Tijuana River near the El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border, after U.S. Border Patrol agents fired tear gas to disperse the group – November 25, 2018. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty)
Image 7: Rob Wilson.