The following is a transcript of an interview with Sister Norma Pimentel, the executive director of Rio Grande Valley Catholic Charities, which aired on Sunday, April 17, 2022 on “Face the Nation.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: The number of migrants crossing the southern border of the United States has already reached a record high in March, and we are not even in the peak migration season. We now want to go to Sister Norma Pimentel, the executive director of Catholic Charities in the Rio Grande Valley. Good morning to you, sister. Happy Easter.
SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL: Good morning to you too.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We know that all of these numbers are expected to increase in the coming weeks after some of these health restrictions are removed at the border. Are you ready for what is to come?
SISTER PIMENTEL: Definitely, you know, what’s happening is that it’s been a long time. For so many years, the numbers have risen. But I’m not focused on Title 42, for example, one more focused on ensuring that those families who are on our border that I see on a daily basis are – they are facing violence, they are facing persecution, they can have access to protection and – and to – human treatment.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you wrote in an opinion piece last year that you called for President Biden to come in person to see some of what you’re describing. It hasn’t been there yet. What impact do you think a personal experience would have?
SISTER PIMENTEL: I definitely think that someone – everyone should come to the border because they did – can have a chance to see our community and the people we serve. If they can get a seat for themselves and meet families. I think that affects the way someone looks at what’s going on. And so I definitely encourage President Biden to come and see – and to be able to better understand what a family is suffering at the border, how they should decide how – how to proceed.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you’ve also talked about something called migrant protection protocols, the “Stay in Mexico” policy that I know the Supreme Court is about to adopt later this month. And that would allow asylum seekers trying to enter the United States to stay on the Mexican side of the border while they go through U.S. processing. You said that it is immoral, immoral, and abominable to deter people who legally and peacefully seek security in the United States by deliberately exposing them to the dangers from which they hope to escape. Can you tell us what these conditions are and what safe alternatives are there?
SISTER PIMENTEL: I visit the border on the Mexican side almost every day, and what I see is that families are suffering because there is a lot of abuse for that. And the conditions are terrible and very dangerous. Children are exposed to: being abducted, abducted, injured. And so it’s not right that we do that. I think someone who faces violence fears for their life, for their children. There must be a way to access the protection. And that is something we as a nation can offer them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you’d like to see them housed on the American side of the border instead of the Mexican side?
SISTER NORMA: I think that as a country we can find ways to be able to offer protection. That could be the US side. Definitely. They ask for protection and fear for their lives. There must be a way to access this protection. And … and now there’s nothing. And so whatever that answer is, I think, it’s something we can work on to make that possible, because these families are in great danger.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We are still in the middle of this public health crisis. And I know the federal government has relied heavily on organizations like yours to help conduct COVID testing for migrants crossing the border and they have also recently started offering them vaccines. How can an undocumented person who is vaccinated prove it? How do you reassure American people at home that there is no health risk?
SISTER NORMA: Because we at the border are making sure that anyone who enters the country is offered this security, this – this – this care, so that if they are exposed to the virus, they can isolate themselves and remain isolated. they can receive this attention so that they do not enter our country and spread the virus to any other place. And so I think mine, the collaboration I have here in the Rio Grande Valley with our law enforcement, our government, the McAllen city government and the Border Patrol, we work together to make sure we address it correctly. . And there is no such thing – that fear – there should be no such thing – so it is a people that is entering our country. I think that we have to help ourselves to understand differently what the border is like. Come and visit and check for yourself and understand our community and how we work and also how the people we serve.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I know you’re not a politician. You are a humanitarian. But Catholic Charities’ work with children in particular who have crossed the border has recently received some sharp criticism from a conspiracy theorist in that country, Alex Jones. And I understand that Pope Francis heard about what was going on in his criticisms. And I want to share with our viewers your personal message for you. He said in a video that migrants must be received, protected, accompanied and integrated. Four things: receive, protect, accompany, integrate. What did this personal message mean to you?
SISTER NORMA: She reaffirmed that we, as a country, must have this heart to welcome those who are afraid for their lives and offer them protection, to offer them a humanitarian response that cares for humanity and especially those who are most vulnerable. . and fragile and bad on our border.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, sister, thank you for leaving us this note this Easter. We will be back soon.
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