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Earlier this year, Texas Impact joined the Texas Border Collaboration Network (TBCN). TBCN is a network of organizations focused on direct service, legal aid, advocacy, and hospitality for migrants and vulnerable populations along the Texas-Mexico border. As this network continues to grow and progress towards its mission, Texas Impact would like to highlight its members, their organizations, and their dedication to helping those along the border. This week we’d like to highlight Abel Vega, Director of Mission, Service, and Justice Ministries for the Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church

If you’d like to see updates from the Texas Border Collaboration Network, the Facebook page can be found by clicking here.

Abel Vega has been in his role with the Rio Texas Conference for five years, but says he has “Always had a heart for the work of church as a facilitative agent of transformation within communities they reside and are called or even mandated to serve.” He’s served as a Peace Corp volunteer and has worked in the church as a layperson for 25 years.

Although he isn’t a native to the border he’s lived in many places throughout Texas with his work over the last 15 years connecting him to the border and to Mexico. In his role as Director of Mission, Service, and Justice Ministries, Abel’s work focuses on community development and transformation, training mission leaders, and supporting and connecting the work of immigration, asylum seekers, and migrant needs at the border.

The Rio Texas Conference is connected to a vast Texas population, a total of 74 counties in South Texas, 350 congregations, and about 450 miles of border with Mexico. This past year, Rio Texas held a Border Convocation that brought about 115 people together –  mainly Methodist from the U.S. and Mexico – to receive updates from the various support responses for arriving asylum-seekers along points of the Texas-Mexico border. In late 2019, Rio Texas also began hosting monthly webinars highlighting advocacy, legal challenges, forced displacement and migration challenges in Central America and Mexico. Now with TBCN in the picture, the webinar has shifted to supporting monthly sessions for TBCN.

Despite stricter immigration policies and border enforcement, the work of the Rio Conference and the United Methodist Church has continued to move forward. Over the course of the last five years, Abel says there has been significant growth in the United Methodist Church’s legal support network and an increase in coordination of direct and legal services to help respond to the humanitarian crisis at the border.

He states that, “In light of stark enforcement of the Remain In Mexico policy, humanitarian support has shifted in finding ways to best support the response efforts in Mexico and increasing efforts in advocating for changes of US immigration policies.” He hopes that someday soon lawmakers will finally work towards creating comprehensive immigration reform. Until then, he feels that it is the responsibility of the church to accept and welcome migrants and asylum seekers and continue calling for immigration reform.

Under the current political climate, especially during the current pandemic, comprehensive immigration reform may take a little longer than the faith community would like to see. But when asked what gives him hope,  Abel stated, “My hope comes from God and His steadfast love. My hope comes from the faith of those seeking asylum exhibited through their stories and hopes in spite of obstacles and hardships faced. My hope comes from being steadfast in telling this story that may cause pause for reflection leading to transformative involvement.”