No human dignity at the borders

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Almost every day we hear from brothers and sisters immigrants who die in the attempt to reach our countrymainly fleeing from hunger and impoverishment. All the political parties of the Spanish and European parliamentary arc, and many Catholics with them, advocate that the arrival of immigrants should be avoided at all costs. impoverished. Behind this stance are thousands of lives that are torn apart every year at our borders. Many flee war, persecution, natural disasters. Others are rightfully seeking opportunities for themselves and their families. They dream of a better future.

Unfortunately, others are "attracted by Western culture, sometimes with unrealistic expectations that expose them to great disappointment. Unscrupulous traffickers, often linked to drug and arms cartels, exploit the weak situation of migrants, who along their journey all too often experience violence, human trafficking, psychological and physical abuse, and indescribable suffering." (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus vivit, 92).

Whether we like it or not, migration is a sign of the times. They are a determining element of the world's future.

Jaime Gutiérrez Villanueva

Those who emigrate "They have to separate themselves from their own context of origin and often experience cultural and religious uprooting. The fracture also concerns the communities of origin, which lose the most vigorous and enterprising elements, and families, particularly when one or both parents emigrate, leaving the children in the country of origin." (ibid., 93). Pope Francis, in his encyclical Fratelli tuttiOnce again, it reaffirms the right of people not to have to emigrate, to have decent living conditions in their own land.

Francis regrets that "In some countries of arrival, migratory phenomena arouse alarm and fear, often encouraged and exploited for political purposes. This spreads a xenophobic mentality of people who are closed and turned in on themselves". (ibid., 92). Migrants are not considered worthy enough to participate in social life like anyone else, and it is forgotten that they have the same intrinsic dignity as any other person. Therefore, must be "protagonists of their own rescue". (Message for the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2020).

It will never be said that they are not human, but in practice, with the decisions and the way they are treated, it is expressed that they are considered less valuable, less important, less human. It is unacceptable for Christians to share this mentality and these attitudes.Sometimes certain political preferences prevail over the deep convictions of one's own faith: the inalienable dignity of every human person regardless of origin, color or religion, and the supreme law of fraternal love (FT, 39). We are all responsible for everyone.

Whether we like it or not, migration is a sign of the times. They are a determining element of the world's future. Europe "inspired by its great cultural and religious heritage, it has the necessary instruments to defend the centrality of the human person and to find the right balance between the moral duty to protect the rights of its citizens, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to ensure the assistance and reception of migrants." (FT, 40).

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