When Evelio Menjivar was 19-years-old, he crossed the US-Mexico border in the trunk of a car at Tijuana.
He was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Today, he is 54, and an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Washington.
Menjivar told Michael Tangeman in a fascinating interview in this week’s Tablet magazine that he doesn’t feel particularly proud of having crossed the border illegally.
But at a time when migrants are increasingly branded as criminals and worse, he concedes his story is “a testimony that many people cross the border with good intentions”.
Menjivar reveals that Latin American migrants to the US “are very afraid to go out, they’re afraid to go to work. But above all, there’s this anxiety of not knowing what’s going to happen,” he says.
“People are hoping to live their normal lives, but with all this stress, this anxiety, it’s also causing mental illness, constant fear and anxiety, and even depression.”
Racial profiling is very much part of the current climate, says the bishop: “If they see you have whiter skin, they won’t stop you,” he says.
“But if they see you with dark skin like mine, you’re obviously a target.
Top of page: Immigrants being questioned by border guards at the US_Mexican border.