“Will Neither of My Daughters Throw Dirt on My Grave?”

A Letter from Mark Adams and Miriam Maldonado Escobar, serving at the U.S. – Mexico Border

Fall 2023

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Dear friends,

Of all the questions Miriam and I heard during more than 200 events in 102 churches, seminaries, universities, presbytery meetings and homes on our 10-month interpretation assignment, none haunts me more than this one. It was a question asked not of us, but of Mari—a friend, a sister in the faith, a fellow follower of Jesus.

Miriam has known Mari’s husband, Antonio, all his life—they were both raised in Nueva Mazapa, Chiapas, and were nurtured in the faith in La Iglesia Presbiteriana Cristo Roca de los Siglos. Like many of the youth from their rural corn-growing community, Antonio migrated to the border city of Agua Prieta in the late 1990s to work in U.S.-owned factories. Although he made less than a dollar an hour in a factory making seat belts for Ford vehicles, it was more than he could make in Chiapas.

Mari, one of two daughters from a coffee-growing region of Chiapas, had migrated to Agua Prieta around the same time. She and Antonio met in the factory and fell in love, and Miriam and I attended their wedding in Chiapas in the summer of 2001.

Mark and Miriam with Mari and Antonio at their wedding in Chiapas in 2001.

Mari and Antonio returned to Agua Prieta to begin their married life. That became financially more challenging after two children were born. So Antonio accepted a job offer in the greater Atlanta area where he could make 10 times more than what he was making in the factory. While there were many jobs available and many businesses willing to hire Antonio, the U.S. government did not, and still does not, have a system in place for him to apply for a work visa to cross the border legally and safely through a port of entry.

Underground travel and employment agencies (aka smuggling organizations) stepped in to fill the void and help folks find work. Antonio told us in the middle of July in the early 2000s that he planned to cross the border by hiring smugglers in Altar, Sonora, to help him. Despite my pleas for him not to risk his life, he said the $1,500 he had borrowed had already been paid.

After several days walking through the Sonoran Desert in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and passing by decomposing bodies of those who were unsuccessful in their journeys, Antonio regretted his decision and feared that he, too, would die.

Antonio’s goal had been to make enough money to buy land and build his house in Agua Prieta and then return to the family. However, once he was in Atlanta, the geographical distance between them created an emotional distance that caused problems in their marriage.

Historically, young men who had migrated would go home for Christmas. However, the “prevention through deterrence” policy initiated by the Clinton Administration in 1994 made it much more dangerous and expensive for people to return home for the holidays. One of the unintended consequences of this policy was the ending of the cyclical nature of Mexican migration to the U.S. It is a great irony that the policy has done a much better job at keeping people in the United States than out.

Antonio and Mari decided that for the health of their family, Mari and their children would also cross. The debt they incurred for smuggling services may have delayed their building plans, but it saved their marriage. Mari and Antonio have now lived in the greater Atlanta area for 20 years, raising the two sons born in Agua Prieta and a subsequent daughter and two sons born in Georgia.

After I preached at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta earlier this year, Miriam and I met Mari, Antonio and their children for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Pho is their preferred restaurant meal. Mari was particularly proud that their daughter would be graduating from high school with highest honors. Her joy turned to sadness, though, when she told us about a conversation with her dad whom she has not seen since her wedding.

Mari and Antonio’s home in Agua Prieta—a home they have only seen in pictures.

“I was talking to my dad last week and he has been having health problems. He asked me, ‘Will neither of my daughters throw dirt on my grave?’” After taking a moment to compose herself following the heaviness of the question, she announced, “I’m going back home to see my parents.”

Realizing that the danger and the cost of crossing the U.S. –Mexico border has grown exponentially in the last two decades, Mari was planning on returning to Georgia. The Biden Administration has continued the “prevention through deterrence” strategy, and the last two years have been two of the deadliest in the history of border crossings. Mari was risking apprehension and repatriation to Mexico.

“How can I not come back? I have to be here until all my children are out of school.”

“How much is it going to cost you to cross?” I asked.

“Twenty thousand dollars,” she replied.

Frontera de Cristo has been advocating for changes in immigration law to permit folks like Mari and Antonio, who have filled U.S. labor needs for years and helped the economy of the U.S. grow, to be able to regularize their legal status in the United States, to live without fear of being deported, and to be able to return to their countries of origin without having to rely on organized crime to get them safely back to their homes.

In your communities, I imagine there are people roofing houses, doing landscaping, running restaurants and mechanic shops, and serving in the hospitality industry, who also face the tough decision about whether to go see their family members in their countries of origin before they die.

Miriam and I cherish your prayers and support that help make possible our life and ministry as your mission co-workers. We invite you to join your prayers and voices with ours and let your representatives know that your neighbors deserve to have their legal status regularized.

Mark

Please read this important message from Director of World Mission Rev. Mienda Uriarte

 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Matthew 25: 34-36

Dear friends,

Great things are happening in World Mission! As you know from the letters you’ve been receiving, our mission co-workers are at the forefront of showing us what Matthew 25 looks like in the U.S. and in the wider world. They are addressing issues related to eradicating systemic poverty, building congregational vitality and dismantling structural racism. Together with our partners, mission co-workers are engaged in life-transforming ministries in 80 countries around the world. Here are just a few examples:

As an education consultant in the Democratic Republic of Congo, José Jones assists the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK) education department in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategic plans to strengthen the church’s primary and secondary education programs for more than 350 schools.

Based in Manila, Rev. Cathy Chang works closely with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and other partners in ministry to engage programs and networks across Asia that advocate for people vulnerable to forced migration and human trafficking.

Nadia Ayoub works alongside our Greek partners as they faithfully hold to the biblical call to welcome the stranger. Nadia serves with Perichoresis, a ministry of the Evangelical Church of Greece that provides housing and support to refugees; most of whom have come to Greece from Arabic-speaking countries.

Joseph Russ strengthens and supports a network of partners working in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to address migration issues in the Northern Triangle. Based on the needs people on the ground identify, Joseph empowers U.S. congregations to engage in advocacy related to Central America and immigration reform.

Revs. Drs. Noah Park and Esther Shin serve as professors at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC). ETSC graduates work toward revitalizing congregational ministries in Egypt and work with refugee and peace ministries in various countries in the Middle East.

Please consider giving an extra gift this year to support our mission co-workers as they walk alongside our partners and help shape a more life-giving, equitable and hopeful world!

Prayerfully,

Rev. Mienda Uriarte, Director of World Mission
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To give online, visit https://bit.ly/23MC-YE.

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