FIO programs and activities are not systematically mapped or assessed, making analysis of their operations difficult and fragmentary. They are notably diverse and operate on a range from official and well-resourced to small, informal, local, and functioning largely under the radar. Several programs deliberately target gaps in short-term services for those deported from Mexico and the United States. Others aim to play roles as mediators for violent conflicts and with gangs, sources of job training, and safe spaces for youth. Migrants themselves often take the lead in their respective church’s immigration ministries, engaging in public education and advocacy on the subject of migration and working to combat human trafficking.
Both specific assessments and anecdotal evidence highlight strengths and assets of FIOs in the Northern Triangle context. FIOs are “uniquely positioned to make a profound and durable impact by virtue of their geographic, moral, and political reach and influence,” which “through an equalizing commonality of faith” can avoid the power dynamic that frequently develops between humanitarian service workers and aid recipients. Their identity as organizations grounded in faith rather than politics or an ethnic identity helps many to survive over time as permanent, trustworthy sources of assistance and support despite fluctuating demographics or territorial boundaries. Typically, long-term connections between the FIO and local communities and, often, governments, positions them well “to help address the root causes of violence and instability that prompt migrants to leave” rather than simply provide short-term solutions that meet immediate, basic needs of returned migrants, as in the case of repatriation centers.
FIOs “transcend all aspects of the migrant experience,” serving as sources of psychological and spiritual support and counseling before migrants embark on their journeys as well as key providers of economic and educational services upon return. Churches represent physical places of security in highly unstable, violent areas controlled by gangs, while some individuals seeking refuge turn to religion in the hopes that their participation in a faith-based community will deter gang members from intervening violently.
An important area of FIO action in the Northern Triangle is violence prevention among young people. USAID has described churches of all denominations in the region as “preventing youths from hanging out on street corners by getting them engaged in socially positive activities (recreational, religious, and job training).” Church youth programs are one of the few alternatives to joining a gang; many individuals who have participated in multiple levels of the programs later become community leaders. FIOs even help mediate among warring gangs to reduce bloodshed in communities already divided by violence.
Exemplary FIO Programs
Active FIOs responding to migrant repatriation needs include World Vision International, several Catholic relief groups under the umbrella of the Caritas Internationalis Federation, and local parishes. The following illustrate different approaches and specific programs that illustrate how FIOs fill a crucial gap in services for migrants.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Youth Pathways was launched in 2009 with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, and supports extracurricular activities for children attending school, offers comprehensive training in education, community service, entrepreneurship, and technical skills to at-risk youth in high violence areas, and assists families and communities in accessing protection services, including psychosocial care. The goal is to “challenge… youth unemployability while also creating alternative pathways to crime and violence.”
A July 2018 USAID midterm evaluation noted important progress in the so-called Migrant Campaign, which addresses needs of returned migrants as well as increasing awareness about the dangers associated with migration, including dangerous working conditions, forced labor, and human trafficking.
Communities Leading Development in Guatemala is a CRS program that aims to empower communities in Guatemala’s Western Highlands to foster local development by creating “robust community development plans” and implementing “projects that respond to needs prioritized by the communities themselves.”
World Vision supports the Community Roots Project in Guatemala that aims to create educational, athletic, cultural, and employment opportunities for youth who may not be not served by formal programs. Collaborating with the Vice Ministry of Violence Prevention, the national police, various municipalities, community development commissions, and private sector actors, Community Roots supports community-based violence prevention projects. With generalized violence being a key cause of forced migration from Guatemala, Community Roots focuses specifically on violence prevention as a way to encourage individuals to remain in their countries of origin rather than embark on the dangerous migrant route.
Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN), an umbrella organization created in 2007 by the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles (Scalabrinians), encompasses more the 250 grassroots Scalabrini entities that serve refugees, migrants, and internally displaced peoples. The impact of the Scalabrinians is felt powerfully in their operation of multiple shelters along the perilous migrant route, serving some of the most desperate individuals along their journey. As the so-called “migrant caravan” headed towards the U.S.-Mexico border dominated American media in October 2018, staff members at a Scalabrini migrant shelter in Guatemala City served approximately 1,700 Hondurans: "We have a soccer field full of people, in the dining room, in every nook and cranny. They're on the bleachers, in the school gym…. The problem now is feeding people and hygiene…. We're experiencing chaos right now.” A Scalabrini-run migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, provides essential services such as medical care, spiritual counseling, telephone calls, and legal support to guests who come primarily from Central American.
Implications and Future Work
FIOs fill crucial gaps in services for migrants through their varied programs that range from community organizing to violence prevention, job counseling and vocational training, care for children, and reintegration services. The religious, typically Christian, nature of FIOs is significant. Organizations enjoy a degree of legitimacy and sense of permanence that help in earning trust and mediating potentially violence conflict. For some individuals, a church, whether Protestant or Catholic, is the only way to escape gang life or avoid persecution from armed groups in the region. Many who return to the Northern Triangle countries face the same conditions that forced them to leave in the first place, so these specific programs address the need for critical survival strategies. FIOs, civil society, and, at times, the national government, including law enforcement agencies, can work together to foster development and reduce violence.
Further research is needed to not only understand how FIOs differ in approach from secular organizations in the region, but also to discover whether there are pertinent differences between Protestant and Catholic FIOs or how religious beliefs and practices espoused by these organizations affect migrant populations. For example, do Protestant and Catholic FIOs generally behave in the same way and participate together within the larger context of Central American civil society, or do their differing theologies influence what services they offer and how they engage with local communities? Furthermore, deeper analysis of and partnership with FIO operations in the region could better inform U.S. foreign and immigration policy by offering location-specific, community-based understandings of the root causes of migration in the Northern Triangle.
