I can’t get these folks out of my mind

{NAME},  Infuriated. Inspired.  I spent a few days at the border of Arizona and Mexico with Vote Common Good. Consistently, one side of the border infuriated me. And the other inspired me.  —  Before you blame everything on Trump, please know the truth. This border wall is a bipartisan tragedy.  It started under Clinton. Was expanded and enhanced under Bush and Obama. It was (is) celebrated by Trump. And it is still being expanded and enhanced under Biden.  Bi. Partisan. Tragedy.  —  I walked a kilometer and a half through the desert. On the path migrants often take.  Coyotes, employed by the cartels, lead migrants. It costs them $8000-$10,000 per person. They can’t make this journey without the coyotes. The cartels will kill them. We were led by three men in recovery through the rehab center run by Frontera de Cristo. They drove us most of the way there. I rode in the truck, and we did dusty donuts in the desert.  Our journey started at the Tree of Life. It’s an oasis where angels offer water to the weary.  And then it was a hot, thorny hike to that hideous wall. It’s been built to 30 feet high because that’s the height from which a fall would likely be fatal. “Give me your poor, your huddled masses …” my ass.  The wall costs $20 million per mile. We walked to an area where a ravine carries rushing water during the rainy season. That water carries away the sand. And there was a gap under that obscenely expensive wall where a person could slide right under. I won’t tell you how, but I know this.  Money well spent. Don’t miss my sarcasm.  —  I’ve seen U2 in concert several times. Maybe my single favorite live performance of a song was Ultra Violet (Light My Way) during the Joshua Tree tour.  Bono belted out, “Baby, baby, baby, light my way,” as pictures of women leaders flashed on the screen. The world is a better place when women lead.  On my border trip, I met three more of those leaders.  Joca, Miriam, and Sister Lika  Joca and Miriam are a part of Frontera de Cristo, which works at the sister cities of Douglas, AZ, and Aqua Prieta, MX. They taught us that borders should be places of encounter, not hostility. They ought to be places where cultures meet and mix and learn from each other.  Frontera de Cristo partners with a rehab center because drug use at the border (and everywhere) should be treated as a medical problem, not a criminal one. They partner with Cafe Justo because people migrate when life is no longer tolerable or sustainable in their homes. However, a different approach to the coffee trade enables farmers and their families to thrive, meaning they don’t have to migrate. And they do so much more.  Sister Lika Macias is my kind of religious troublemaker. A former nun turned artist and activist, she founded and leads La Casa de la Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones in Nogales, Mexico. Asylum seekers live at this facility while waiting for their meeting with border officials to be scheduled or occur. More to come on La Casa de la Misericordia. I spent less than 24 hours there. And they were life-changing. [A collage of five photos from the Vortex/Vote Common Good border experience trip. From left to right, top to bottom: 1) Candidate David Kim running for California’s 34th congressional district plays with a young Black boy in the yard of the shelter. 2) A group of children gather around Vote Common Good Executive Director Doug Pagitt as he plays a guitar. 3) A mobile phone is set up on a rig with microphone extensions to record interviews and conversations with migrant families awaiting their asylum hearings at the shelter. 4) Vortex candidate Rodney Govens leans down speaking with a young Black boy at the migrant shelter with another older Black man looking on. 5) A distressed-looking American flag is painted onto the rusted border fence.]( One other U2 lyric that reminds me of Joca, Miriam, and Sister Lika - “You’re packing a suitcase to a place none of us has been.”  Walk on, leaders. Light my way. I will follow.  —  I spent 24 hours at La Casa de la Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones (House of Mercy) in Nogales, Mexico. I wasn’t prepared for how emotional it would be.  House of Mercy provides shelter, education, and opportunity for asylum seekers as they wait on the Mexican side of the border. These are families who have been forced from their homes by violent and traumatic circumstances in hopes of finding refuge in the United States. When they get to the border, they are told they can’t enter and have to use a poorly built app to schedule a hearing with an asylum judge. One family we met had just gotten their hearing scheduled after eight months of trying ... for August. House of Mercy keeps them safe and busy while they wait.  House of Mercy bustles with energy. Children play and attend school. Families cook meals together for all the residents. Artists create works of beauty. Chefs run a tortilla business. Teenagers box visiting Americans (no face shots). Friends dance into the night. [A collage of seven photos from the Vortex/Vote Common Good border experience trip. From left to right, top to bottom: 1) A shelter worker addresses a seated crowd. 2) A photo of a distressed sign with an arrow pointing left that reads “TO MEXICO” in all caps. 3) A photo of people dancing in a congo line. 4) A young Latino woman stands over a weaving loom. 5) A young Latino girl pulls gently on the beard of an American man. 6) A young Black teen playfully boxes with an American visiting the center. 7) Vortex’s Rodney Govens sits and speaks with a family of migrants at the shelter.]( But don’t let all of that positive, creative energy fool you. There is so much pain in this place. The trauma these folks have endured.  Homes have been stolen by the cartels. Fathers have been beaten, some nearly fatally. Daughters and wives have been threatened. Parents have huddled around their children, trying to keep them warm at night during long walks through the desert. Careers have been ruined. People have been kidnapped and escaped.  I will never forget their tears as they shared their stories with us. Or their smiles as they shared this moment of their lives with us, too.  —  I’ve been to the US / Mexico border before. I’ve seen the wall and heard horrendous stories in the past. One of the things that made this trip to the border unique and memorable was the presence of 4 congressional candidates.  David Kim, CA-34 Jerrad Christian, OH-12 Rodney Govens, AR-01 Tamie Wilson, OH-04 [A photo of Vortex candidate Rodney Govens stands speaking with a priest at one of the migrant shelters they visited.]( These fantastic humans and candidates took time out of their chaotic, busy lives to immerse themselves in one of the most critical issues of our day. Sometimes, we’ll see politicians cosplaying as border agents for a photo-op at the border. That’s not what these candidates did.  They opened their hearts and minds. They learned. They leaned in. They listened.  [I believe this experience will make a difference when they get to Washington, DC, and can start to unravel our complicated and often misguided immigration policy. If you can, help them get there!](  Robb [Support Vortex PAC >>](      Vortex PAC is a new grassroots movement to transform Arkansas politics away from the far-right. We are recruiting, training, and supporting Democratic candidates to flip all four of Arkansas’ U.S. congressional districts and help win back the House majority in 2024. 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