Humanitarian Approaches to Politicized Issues: Kino Border Immersion

Every February Break, Sacred Heart organizes an immersion trip to a town in Arizona called Nogales. Nogales is a vital port of entry for the U.S. and Mexico, known as an important gateway for international trade, handling nearly 37% of Mexico’s imported produce into the U.S. However, Nogales’ economic significance is not the purpose of the immersion trip.
As a port of entry, Nogales, Arizona oversees massive amounts of immigration, both legal and illegal. In December 2024, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 47,000 individuals attempting to cross the southwest U.S.-Mexico border without proper documentation. According to Reuters, this figure is more than 200,000 less than December of the previous year, the highest number of immigrants attempting to cross the border during the Biden administration.
Mexico is directly across the border from Nogales, so hundreds of migrant families wait there to have their asylum cases heard. Even more wait for an appointment to determine their eligibility to enter legally. The Kino Border Initiative located in Nogales, Mexico provides temporary shelter, food, and guidance for migrants navigating the complicated system of legal entry into the U.S. While on immersion, students have the opportunity to meet and serve food to migrants while learning about the various policies and intricacies that form the U.S. immigration system.
World Languages Teacher (Spanish) Profe Rolando Victoria has chaperoned the trip for the past two years. He gave some of his thoughts and shared some of his experiences of his time at the border. When asked what prompted him to volunteer to go on the trip, Victoria stated that, “We live in a time where, unfortunately, this issue has become politicized and has made this issue something controversial, but we forget about the human aspect and the human condition.” One of the most important aspects of the Kino Border Initiative Immersion Trip is the opportunity to interact with migrants directly to hear their stories and experiences.
Jayson Moran ‘27 went on the immersion trip in February 2024. He stated that, “Through connecting with immigrants in the shelters we learned about the importance of thinking about immigration not as a political issue, but a humanitarian issue.”
Victoria echoed this sentiment, speaking to the idea of humanizing the issue of immigration, stating that, “it is very grounding and very inspiring to see people who are going through so much and still have a positive outlook on life and sharing their most difficult moments in their lives.” At the Kino Border Initiative, there are people of many different nationalities and cultural backgrounds who all speak different languages. Victoria spoke on the language barrier at the program saying, “The language barrier goes away. Even if you don’t know how to speak Spanish you speak another kind of language [at Kino] which is the language of humanity and kindness.”
Students at the Kino Border Initiative are educated on the aspects of the immigration system in the U.S. and the difficulties migrants face while attempting to legally enter the country.
The CBP One app was an application that noncitizens could use to present themselves at a U.S. port of entry. Through this app, migrants could schedule appointments to present themselves at a land port of entry, begin the process of requesting asylum, and apply for legal entry into the United States. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, between the months of January 2023 and February 2024, migrants made over 5 million appointment requests through the CBP One App per month. Despite this immense amount of requests, only about 547,00 individuals were able to schedule an appointment. Despite this, immigration remains high with the Congressional Budget Office estimating that 3.3 million people immigrated to the U.S. in 2024. The CBP app has recently been shut down under the new presidential administration.
Ultimately, this issue is as complicated as ever. There are a myriad of perspectives and factors at play in what is transpiring at the border. With a new administration entering office soon, the subject of the border crisis is very much up in the air.
Victoria concluded his statements with advice to any students considering the immersion program. “For [students] to go [to the border] and witness everything first hand, see how this issue of immigration is complicated, and listen to various perspectives and leave with a sense of humanity […] is one of the most important things.”