See how these Christians love one another, in this impressive story by Patricia Zapor of CNS.

From The Tidings:

Victor Hernandez Martinez, a blacksmith with his own business near Seattle, was on his third day at the “Centro para Atención a los Migrantes Deportados,” the Center to Help Deported Migrants, a few hundred yards inside the Mexican border from Arizona.

In fluent English, Hernandez explained how he had been stopped by U.S. immigration inspectors at the border at Tijuana as he returned home from a trip to his native state of Veracruz in east-central Mexico for his great-grandfather’s funeral.

Instead of being at work in Seattle, Hernandez was among about 75 men having a hearty breakfast at the “comedor,” or dining room, run by the Kino Border Initiative, a collaborative effort of the Jesuit provinces of California and Mexico, the Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., the Archdiocese of Hermosillo, Mexico, Jesuit Refugee Service and the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist…

[snip]

Particularly during the hot summer months when the risk is high of dying during an attempt to cross the harsh desert, the Border Patrol strategy is to bring people caught in one jurisdiction to a more distant point in Mexico. The theory is that this discourages people from turning around and trying to cross again at the same place, or from reconnecting with the smugglers who were supposed to get them through. Some people who are caught are flown back to their home states in Mexico.

Hernandez said his wife in Seattle has hired a lawyer to try to straighten out his situation. But in the meantime, with little money, he had to ditch the belongings he traveled with and was eating at the “comedor.”

There, volunteers serve two hearty meals a day and provide basic medical care and clothes or shoes to those who need them.

On this morning, breakfast included beans, tortillas, baked potatoes, green chili, bread and watermelon. Lunch included beans and fried chicken prepared by a woman in Phoenix and sent down in coolers with parishioners of St. Francis Xavier Parish, who help serve breakfast and bring lunch once a month.

Read on for more, and to discover how this extraordinary ministry began.