Six years ago, Hilda Ramírez arrived in the United States with her seven-year-old son, Ivan, after fleeing Guatemala. She spent a year in a Texas detention center, where she led women on a hunger strike. Four years ago, she and her son were offered Sanctuary at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, where they remain even as they face deportation and fines in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Investigative journalist and author Todd Miller has been studying the border issues for almost 20 years. Over that time, he told the people attending last week’s 35th anniversary of Presbyterian Border Region Outreach, Miller has learned to follow the money.