As SB 4 remains in legal limbo, El Pasoans send message to migrants: 'Do not be afraid'

The scene that unfolded at San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso wasn't a protest, it was a call for humanity and compassion from hundreds of voices weary of the division being pedaled over the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hundreds of faith, civic leaders, activists and advocates gathered in mass on March 21 to send a message to migrants held back nearby by concertina wire and Texas National Guard soldiers: "Do not be afraid."

The march and vigil — sponsored by the Hope Border Institute, Las Americas Immigration Advocacy Center, Estrella Del Paso and faith leaders — was held in opposition of the controversial Texas state law, SB 4, which empowers state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration law.

The crowd snaked around either side of the San Jacinto Plaza fountain and stretched out to the edges of the park in every direction, many holding signs splashed with slogans like: "Todos Somos Imigrantes. (We are all immigrants.)"

Ruth Perez of El Paso was among that crowd and she said the political divide over immigration drew her to the demonstration.

"The city is divided over the pros and cons of having immigrants here and they forget we're all basically immigrants," Perez said. "We want to let the city know, and anybody else who is willing to listen, that there is a movement that has started because of the high movement of immigrants from Juárez."

Jesus de la Torre, a research fellow with the Hope Border Institute, said the "community is terrorized" by state policies such as SB 4, which gives Texas law enforcement broad authority to arrest and detain anyone suspected of entering the country illegally.

The law, he said, is criminalizing humanity and relief.

"I came to witness how El Paso and Juárez are reclaiming dignity," de la Torre said.

For Brittany Enciso, a member of UTEP's Catholic Campus Ministry, the message was one of compassion for people fleeing disaster and despair as they make their way into the United States.

"We see a lot of migrants here, homeless and looking for help," she said. "That's all they're asking for is help and assistance."

El Paso city Rep. Josh Acevedo was among the sea of faces waiting for the march from San Jacinto Plaza to Sacred Heart Church to start. He said his mind was keenly on the injustice of the new law, which went into effect and then was again placed on hold after a legal back-and-forth earlier in the week.

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the law to go into effect on March 19, referring the case back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held a hearing March 20. The law remains on hold while the appeals court deliberates on whether immigration law should be left to the federal government.

"I think SB 4 is not good," he said. "I think it's going to create a lot more chaos ... but it's no surprise this is where we are right now."

Acevedo argues the law, instead of stemming illegal immigration, would only burden taxpayers, threaten the safety of residents and turn the border into "a real mess."

'Tenemos esperanza — we have hope'

Before hundreds streamed into the streets, led by the pounding drums of matachines, community leaders took to a microphone or bullhorn to address those who had gathered.

Bishop Michael Hunn of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, however, needed no amplification. His voice towered over the crowd with seemingly little effort as he recalled the Bible story of the good Samaritan who, in assisting an ailing stranger, never asked to see the stranger's papers.

"We are here today calling for policies at the local, state and federal level that are moral," he said. "We are marching tonight for policies that respect every human being."

El Paso County Commissioner David Stout rallied the crowd into a roar with his shouts of "Si se puede."

"Border communities have too long been exploited for political purposes," he said before calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to "stop meddling in federal affairs."

"We are not pawns to be played in their political schemes," Stout said.

Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, the Catholic nonprofit being targeted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, recalled when his group received a call from University Medical Center asking if he could assist a woman who had fallen off the border wall and broken her neck.

He agreed. And because the woman had not been processed at the border, Paxton called Annunciation House "a stash house," Garcia said.

"Have you no shame?" he asked of Paxton.

"I don't have any illusions about the road ahead," Garcia continued. "The road ahead is going to be difficult ... (but) we believe that other people matter."

Pounding drums and rattling maracas could be heard as the final speaker, First Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of El Paso Anthony Celino took to the stage with a simple message: "Tenemos esperanza," he shouted, and the crowd repeated it. "We have hope."

More: Record migrant deaths: ‘La pérdida - The loss’: Deadly disaster at El Paso, Juárez border

The humming crowd of hundreds then wound through the streets towards Sacred Heart Church, where a vigil was held in memory of the lives lost nearly a year ago when a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez caught fire, as well as many more that died crossing the border last year.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Hundreds march for unity against Gov. Greg Abbott's SB 4 in El Paso