SAN ANTONIO (RNS) — The children had already gathered on stage for the praise dance finale of a local community organizing network event when Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller took the microphone and put his arm around Sheila, an immigrant who had told the archbishop she was living in fear of Donald Trump’s second administration.
Speaking Spanish, García-Siller asked the crowd of hundreds of Catholics and other people of faith, “What do you want to offer her?”
“Justice,” someone shouted. “Equality,” someone else responded. “We’re with you, Sheila.”
With President-elect Trump vowing to deport millions of immigrants over the next four years, many communities along the U.S.-Mexico border are preparing to protect residents from what they expect to be draconian measures to identify and remove immigrants of various legal statuses.
Faith leaders in Texas have long experience in advocating for migrants not only from federal policies but, since 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, which has deployed the Texas National Guard and allocated billions of dollars for border enforcement. In that time, migrant drownings have spiked at crossings along the Rio Grande, where the government installed razor wire and blockade buoys.
In the weeks before Trump takes office, García-Siller and other Catholic leaders are drawing on that experience, providing strategic support but also spiritual c …