Is He Illegal?

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“Is he illegal?” asked the 911 dispatcher.

“No, he is a human being created in the image of God, beloved by God. Send an ambulance now!” should have been my response. But that was not what I said.

While Adrian Gonzalez and I were serving our 8 p.m. to midnight volunteer shift at the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta, Sonora, a man entered the center and was obviously concerned. He reported that his nephew had called him to say that that there was a young man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake and needed help.

“He is 200 meters south of mile marker 384 on Highway 80,” he told us with urgency. Being right on the border, my cell phone had a U.S. signal, and I called 911 to report what seemed to be a potentially life-threatening situation.

I was shocked by the question of the dispatcher, and I am haunted by my too timid response that did not confront the dehumanization of not only the person in distress but many of God's children who are fleeing extreme violence and poverty, seeking to be reunited with family or simply seeking better opportunities. Not only did my response not confront the premise that some human beings’ lives are more valued than others, but it also perpetuated it.

“I am not sure if he is in the country with authorization, but I imagine not,” I respond.

The call is cut.

I am stunned and confused and look at my phone, wondering if the signal was cut or if the dispatcher had hung up. I call back.

“I just called, and the call was cut. Do you need any other information from me?”

[ngg src="galleries" ids="1076" display="pro_horizontal_filmstrip" show_captions="1"]“Do you have any?”

“Just what I told you before. I am serving as a volunteer at the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta, and a man entered to report that his nephew called him and asked for help because a man with him was bitten by a rattlesnake. He is 200 meters south of mile marker 384 on Highway 80.”

“Okay.”

End of call.

I sense that the dispatcher is not going to do anything, so I call the Douglas Border Patrol Station, which is responsible for patrolling the section of the borderlands where the young man is, and I tell them about the young man in distress.

“Yes. Douglas Dispatch called us and reported it. I told them that they would have to respond because we do not have the personnel to respond."

I immediately call 911 back, and the same dispatcher responds. I ask for an update on action taken.

“Yes. We have already notified the Border Patrol,” is the response.

“I know that you called Border Patrol. I just talked to them, and they advised me that they let you know that you would need to send EMS because they do not have the personnel to respond.”

After hanging up, I was still not sure that anyone would respond. Feeling angry and frustrated at my government officials who were supposedly working on my behalf, I wrote a brief email to the Douglas Chief of Police and the Border Patrol leadership team, and then I left the Migrant Resource Center, crossed the border, and drove the 16 miles east of Douglas to mile marker 384, not sure what I would do when I got there. When I arrived about an hour and a half after the initial 911 call, there were two sets of emergency vehicle lights south of the highway.

The next morning, I got a message from the Deputy Patrol Agent in Charge of the Douglas Border Patrol station asking me to call him. He let me know that both the Border Patrol and the EMS had responded, and the young man was found and transported to the hospital. Unfortunately, he said, the young man died at the hospital.

Later we discovered the young man was really a teenager—just 16 years old—and his name was Juan Diego Trejo Alonso.

Juan Diego Trejo Alonso

Born June 11, 2005

Died October 8, 2021

A son

A grandson

A brother

Created in the image of God

Beloved by God

PRESENTE!

While he may have broken U.S. law having entered the United States without authorization, Juan Diego was not illegal, but rather a precious life who God had knitted in the womb of his mother. If we had treated him as God created him, we would not have asked if he were illegal, and he might be alive today.

In the last 14 months, the Migrant Resource Center has welcomed over 40,000 men, women and children who were expelled from the U.S.—persons from all parts of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Volunteer Maribel Lara reminds us to always look for the face of Jesus in each of our siblings who enter. Everyone is to be treated as “beloved,” and no one is to be seen or treated as “illegal.”

We are grateful to be a part of a binational community of faith that seeks to define the border as a place of encounter, opportunity and hope, even as there are powerful forces that continue to define it as a place of division, fear and death. We are grateful for your prayers and support that help make our life and ministry here possible. We will be on interpretation assignment in the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023 and hope that we will be able to share first-hand with you and your church how we have experienced God at work in and through this incredible binational community.

Mark