NOGALES, AZ — In Nogales, Sonora, just south of the Arizona border, a migrant shelter is keeping a holiday tradition alive for families who have been waiting for a chance to seek asylum in the United States.
At Casa de la Misericordia, staff and volunteers recently hosted a Christmas Posada, a traditional Mexican celebration which reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging.
For the families living there, the event offered a rare moment of celebration amid months of uncertainty.
“Christmas is a time when you open your hearts. I want the migrant people here to be able to wait with tenderness and dignity,” said Sister Lika Macias, the shelter’s director.
The themes of the Posada resonate strongly for the migrants still waiting just miles from the U.S. border.
“People fail to see the plight of the migrants with the migrants, with the plight of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in the biblical times,” said Father Mateo Chavez, a Tucson pastor who participated in the event.
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Since the beginning of the Trump administration, migrants waiting in Nogales have been unable to obtain asylum appointments at the border crossing. As U.S. immigration policy has tightened, people hoping to legally seek refuge have found themselves stuck in Mexico, often with no clear timeline for when the process may reopen.
That includes Jose Samuel, a migrant from El Salvador who has been waiting at the shelter with his kids.
“We want asylum, but the situation is complicated as the border has been closed. But we still have hope in god that one day the border will be able to re-open,” Samuel said.
Samuel is not alone. Many of the migrants at Casa de la Misericordia have now been waiting for over a year. What was intended to be a temporary shelter has instead become home for families raising children and trying to maintain a sense of normalcy while they wait.
“I have a lot of thanks for Sister Lika, and all of them, who have given us a helping hand so we could be here. This is my home and my Children’s home for the moment,” said Fany Esvedi, a migrant mother from Mexico.
For many families, that moment may last far longer. Daily deportations at the border show the U.S. government remains focused on removing people from the country, even as migrants continue to wait in Mexico for legal pathways to open.
Volunteers at the shelter say stricter immigration policies do not have to mean abandoning humanitarian responsibility.
“That’s my hope. That our country, that can literally drive a car on Mars, can devise a process by which people can come to the United States and seek relief,” Father Chavez said.
