Sister Norma Pimentel Archives

Group asks Biden administration to step up reunification of border families

Apr 9, 2021

An interfaith collection of religious activists is asking the Biden administration to step up the pace of family reunification to remedy the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that separated an estimated 5,500 immigrant children from their families by invoking criminal proceedings against their parents.

By Mark Pattison

Migrant families freed without court notice or any paperwork

Apr 1, 2021

Overwhelmed and underprepared, U.S. authorities are releasing migrant families on the Mexican border without notices to appear in immigration court or sometimes without any paperwork at all — a time-saving move that has left migrants confused.

By Elliot Spagat

Mysterious new system at border keeps migrants guessing

Mar 23, 2021

President Joe Biden has kept Title 42 in place as he designs what he promises will be “a humane asylum system.” Citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are usually back in Mexico within two hours, while other nationalities are held in the U.S. to be flown home without a chance at asylum.

By Adriana Gómez Licón

No evidence migrants at border significantly spreading virus

Mar 11, 2021

As he ended Texas’s coronavirus restrictions Wednesday over the objections of public health officials, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has tried shifting concern about the virus’ spread to migrants with COVID-19 crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, though without evidence they are a significant factor.

By Paul J. Weber and Nomaan Merchant

Brownsville diocesan agency ready to help asylum-seekers entering U.S.

Feb 24, 2021

Just as the coldest weather in more than 30 years brought new misery to asylum-seekers stranded in a refugee camp in Mexico, an end to their plight may be in sight.

By Paul Binz, CNS

Birth on a riverbank: Woman’s ordeal shows risks at border

Dec 16, 2020

Merín, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras. gave birth to her daughter next to the Rio Grande, attended to by two Border Patrol agents, showing how lives routinely end up at risk at the U.S.-Mexico border.

By Nomaan Merchant

Catholic Extension, Kino Border Initiative host virtual event along border

Oct 18, 2020

Days after Pope Francis issued his encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” calling for people of goodwill to care for one another as brothers and sisters and not to erect new borders between people and nations, Catholic Extension announced a 2,000-mile act of prayer along the U.S.-Mexico border.

By Catholic News Service

Don’t turn away from suffering on border, urges Sister Norma Pimentel

Jul 7, 2020

In an opinion piece in The Washington Post daily newspaper, Sister Norma Pimentel, known for her work with migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border near Brownsville, Texas, made a public plea July 6 to keep an eye on the plight of asylum-seekers during the coronavirus pandemic.

By Rhina Guidos