UPDATE & CORRECTION: A nun invited President Trump to meet refugees at her center near the border

Last updated on: January 11, 2019 at 2:34 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

UPDATE & CORRECTION: A nun invited President Trump to meet refugees at her center near the border 2019-01-11T14:34:55-05:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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UPDATE: CNS this afternoon posted an update and correction, noting that an earlier version of this report said the president visited the center. That was not accurate.

A corrected version is below:

President Donald Trump joined a roundtable discussion to hear about how agencies in South Texas are responding to the influx of refugees on the southern border.

The discussion Jan. 10 came a day after Sister Norma Pimentel welcomed the president to the Rio Grande Valley and invited him to see the work of staff and volunteers assisting people from throughout Central America seeking asylum in the United States.

The invitation from Sister Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, appeared in an op-ed she penned for The Washington Post.

The president also joined a roundtable presentation on the situation facing migrants and those who serve them during his visit to the center.

The column explained the work of the center since 2014, when tens of thousands of people mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras made their way northward to flee violence and poverty in their homeland.

Sister Pimentel said the center — offering shelter, meals and showers for people who have been released after being apprehended by authorities as they crossed into the U.S. — has welcomed more than 100,000 people since opening.

On some days as few as 20 people arrive, she wrote, adding, “Other days it’s closer to 300.”

She invited the president to see how the center cooperates with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to ensure the needs of the newcomers are met.

“We work closely with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Rio Grande Valley Sector, and our team has cultivated a culture of mutual respect and dialogue,” wrote Sister Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus. “Our center staff, in communication with the Border Patrol, prepares to receive groups of immigrants who have been released. We try to meet the need.

“It is vital that we keep our country safe, and I appreciate the work of the men and women in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection who are vigilant as to who enters our country. I pray for them daily.”

The editor from the local Catholic paper interviewed Sister Pimentel after:

Sister Norma Pimentel was “truly disappointed” after not being given an opportunity to speak during a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump during his Jan. 10 visit to McAllen.

The president traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to make his case for a southern border wall and other security measures amid a partial government shutdown that began over funding for the wall.

Calling the president’s visit “quite an important moment,” Sister Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in the Diocese of Brownsville, lamented that representatives of local agencies working with migrant people and local elected officials were not invited to speak during the discussion.

“I was looking forward to this roundtable discussion, but there was no discussion unfortunately,” Sister Pimentel told The Valley Catholic, newspaper of the Brownsville Diocese. “There were certain people selected to speak, people who support the president’s agenda,” she added.

“We would like for President Trump to know who we are and what the reality is here on our border,” said Sister Pimentel, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus

Trump arrived about 12:45 p.m. local time, along with Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House staff.

Supporters of Trump as well as protesters gathered on opposite sides of a street near the airport awaiting the president’s arrival.

Trump was taken to a nearby U.S. Border Patrol Station for what was billed as a roundtable discussion with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, local officials and key players of the immigration story such as Sister Pimentel, who has spearheaded efforts to assist about more than 100,000 immigrants since June 2014.

A Jan. 10 Catholic News Service story incorrectly reported that Trump would visit the Catholic Charities-run Humanitarian Respite Center that Sister Pimentel oversees and that serves migrant people.

My apologies to all concerned. I wondered why this story hadn’t gotten wider circulation or been reported elsewhere. Now I know.

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