A German archbishop says the wall between the United States and Mexico, with its towering fortifications and razor wire dividing the two border communities evoked a painful memory in his own country’s history: the Berlin Wall. Source: OSV News.
Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse last month visited the US-Mexico border between Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.
“In a way, the inhumanity and massiveness of these border fortifications reminded me of the Berlin Wall, which divided the German capital for nearly 30 years and caused great suffering for the people living there,” Archbishop Hesse said.
“I found the border situation to be disturbing,” added the archbishop, who serves as chairman of the German bishops’ conference’s migration commission.
“Two cities that had essentially grown together into one – and whose populations remain connected in many ways – are now hermetically separated by a border wall and razor wire.”
Archbishop Hesse embarked on an August 20-27 “solidarity trip” to assess the humanitarian reality along key migration routes, the German bishops’ conference said in a statement published August 20.
Also serving as the conference’s special envoy for refugee issues, the archbishop has embarked on similar trips in past years, including to Ukraine, Kenya and Egypt.
During his visit, Archbishop Hesse met migrants, volunteers, aid agency representatives, civil and church leaders, including Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, immediate past chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Migration.
Recalling his visit to Mexico, Archbishop Hesse said that, due to restrictive US policies, the country that was once “a country of origin and transit” has now become “a destination country for migrants” and is also facing additional challenges from deportations “out of the US”.
He said that amid the suffering of those along the border, he had heard and witnessed that “without the Church’s services, the situation would be much worse.”
“Approximately 80 per cent of the shelters are run by the Church. There, refugees and migrants not only receive a roof over their heads but are also treated with dignity as human beings,” he said.
However, the archbishop also noticed that there is a “wide gulf” between Christian shelters that are “centred on the dignity of every single person” and detention centres “where migrants are primarily viewed as a threat”.
FULL STORY
German archbishop says US-Mexico border wall recalls Berlin Wall, warns against loss of humanity (By Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News via NCR Online)
