#5SmartReads - March 22, 2021

On WAP, work, and what life is like for migrants seeking asylum

‘The crisis is in Washington’: Overwhelmed border officials urge D.C. to act (Politico)

There’s something important missing from much of the rhetoric and reporting about the migrant crisis on the border.

That these are people, fleeing from very real dangers, looking for safety.

I encourage you to take the time to read this very long article, but I’ll leave you with these two quotes that I’m still thinking about.

“The crisis is in Washington because it’s the third administration that can’t solve it,” said Jim Darling, mayor of McAllen, Texas, a small city 60 miles west of Brownsville. “The only thing that could stop families is legislation and actually doing the work to help Central America — and that’s not happening.”

Sister Norma Pimentel, the group’s executive director, said the narrative that “this is a crisis and it’s caused by this administration” is wrong. “It’s caused by the fact that nobody has ever done something to address it before and that’s why we still have the situation,” sh…