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Border faith community leaders split on potential changes to immigration policy

Border faith community leaders split on potential changes to immigration policy
Border faith community leaders split on potential changes to immigration policy 04:19

EAGLE PASS – In mid-December, community volunteers planted 560 wooden crosses in Shelby Park — a place that became the epicenter of the state's efforts to crack down on border security a year ago when the Texas Department of Public Safety overtook it to crack down on illegal migrant crossings. The crosses became a hard-to-miss, temporary memorial to the migrants who died crossing into the country through the southern border last year. 

Dan McQuistion made the crosses.

"That's really not enough," said McQuistion of the number of crosses erected. "That's just the number we're able to collect."

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Dan McQuistion made the hundreds of crosses that became a temporary memorial to migrants who died crossing the border. CBS News Texas

He volunteers with Mission Border Hope, a nonprofit affiliated with the Eagle Pass First United Methodist Church.  He describes the group as a place for people to express their compassion for immigrants and the poor.

Javier Leyva, the church's pastor, said receiving and feeding migrants is part of his mission. 

It's not lost on him that the past few years have brought Eagle Pass national attention as the immigration debate rages. And he expects more changes with a new Trump administration.

"Whatever else happens, we still have to trust God and do what we were called to do," Pastor Leyva said. 

He said he views the faith community as playing a key role in helping migrants who arrive in the country, no matter their legal status.

"The word of God says welcome the stranger, because we were once strangers," he said. 

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"The word of God says welcome the stranger, because we were once strangers," Pastor Javier Leyva said. 

About 50 northwest, at the Baruch Hashem Assembly, a Messianic synagogue in Del Rio, Rabbi Manny Rodriguez views border politics through a different lens. 

"As a religious leader, biblically I believe in the laws of the land," Rabbi Rodriguez said. "I believe those laws should be obeyed."

They're laws he spent two decades enforcing as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, before retiring when President Joe Biden took office in 2021. His dedication to federal law even extends to the way he refers to those who cross over into this country without documentation. He said he prefers to call them "illegal aliens" as opposed to migrants, referring to USC 1325, which "sets forth criminal offenses relating to improper entry into the United States by an alien."

As a supporter of incoming President-elect Donald Trump, he's excited to see changes to immigration enforcement during the next four years. And he said he notices he's not the only one. 

"I haven't seen so many Republican signs in my life since I've been here," Rabbi Rodriguez said. 

He acknowledges that some may not agree with his stance on the immigration debate, or how he refers to migrants, but he believes his views align with his faith. 

"We are not the only country in the world that has immigration laws," he said. "When you read the scriptures, every major city — Jerusalem, Jericho — they all have their borders."

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"We are not the only country in the world that has immigration laws," Pastor Manny Rodriguez said. CBS News Texas

Back in Eagle Pass, Pastor Leyva said his issue isn't with the idea of border security. He said it's something he wants as well, but he also wants to see migrants treated with dignity. 

"Many times, unfortunately, they're treated like animals," Pastor Leyva said. "But we're all created equal under God."

This is part two in a three-part series. See the other stories here.

  

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