In January, a federal judge in the southwestern state of Arizona found four aid workers guilty of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit. They were accused of leaving food and water inside Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in the Arizona desert for migrants entering the U.S.
Leaving water and food for people crossing the border is not just a nice act of charity; it can be a matter of life and death for those walking hundreds of miles in dry, sweltering heat. The crossing is especially dangerous due to a recent spike in smugglers abandoning large groups of Central American migrants.
The conviction of the aid workers has exposed a moral quandary for humanitarian workers: Is it ethical to break an unjust law, especially if abiding by it could potentially result in the loss of human life? How do we reconcile our inner moral compasses with the laws of the land? And when our personal ethics come in conflict with those of the state, which takes precedence?
Sister Norma Pimentel has found herself in these ethical quandaries for much of her life. In the 1980s, she was arrested while protesting U.S. military aid to the government of El Salvador during the country’s civil war. That was for her, “a defining moment.”
BRIGHT Magazine recently spoke to Sister Norma Pimentel, who is now the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. A longtime advocate for immigrants and refugee rights, she provides emergency food, shelter, housing assistance, and counseling to her community’s most needy — including migrants who entered the U.S. illegally. Here is our conversation with Sister Pimentel. The interview has been edited for length and readability.
BRIGHT: What motivates you to do the work that you do?
Norma Pimentel: What motivates me to do the work that I do is the faces of the people that are before me, and knowing that there is God’s presence in them that is screaming out and saying, “Help me!” And that moves me and pushes me forward to do something.
Back in 2014, when we started responding to the migrant crisis, there were families coming to our border, and we as a community needed to respond because we were seeing the cries of the many families and children.
I personally went into a detention facility where there were children, and they were in a holding facility looking through a big glass window. I saw very tiny faces with tears, and you could see in their faces how frightened they were. I was able to go in and pray with them. As I walked in to be with them, they were all crying around me and pulling my dress and telling me, “Please get me out of here.” I cried with them. I was so powerless, I wished I could just save them and protect them and just help them all.
It was this sense of inadequacy, of not being able to help them, that moved me so profoundly. I needed to do my best to help the immigrants and refugees and people who are suffering extremely because of mistreatment and because of other people who don’t respect human life. I felt like whatever was within my power to help alleviate their suffering once they were in my care, I would do it. And so that’s what pushes me forward.
BRIGHT: There are so many people in the world who are suffering in one way or another. Is there anything in particular about refugees and immigrants that made you compelled to work with this population?
NP: They are the people who God has put in front of me, and they are my people. I live right at the border, I’ve lived here all my life. And there are a great number of immigrants who are coming in and needing help. [I would help] any person that is needy, or that I can be of help to — it does not have to be an immigrant, it just has to be a person, a human being that is in distress, that is imploring for help — something is in me that pushes me to reach out and help.
BRIGHT: The area where you are working, at the U.S.-Mexico border, is fraught with politics. How do you keep humanity at the center when there are a lot of politics around what you do?
NP: I think it’s very important that we keep ourselves focused on what we believe in and why we do what we do. It’s all about the [immigrant] families that we have before us. And that’s important, because otherwise we’d get tied up in all this political back and forth. I think that we keep it to what it truly is: human life and defending humanity in every way possible.
One thing we have in common is that we are all human beings. It doesn’t matter who you are, what race you are, whether [you lean to the] left or right, we all can come together because we are all human beings.
BRIGHT: A lot of people think that people who come to the U.S. illegally don’t deserve help. It seems that there is a bubble that separates their everyday experience and that of migrants. How do you break that bubble?
NP: There’s a time when I needed a Xerox machine. And [the lady] said to me, “I’m going to sell you this machine because I’m a businesswoman. But I’m 100 percent against you helping these immigrants.” And I said, “Thank you, but let me show you what I do and why.” So this is how God popped her bubble.
She later came back and said, “I’m here for you.” I think her bubble popped immediately when she saw the reality and realized that they were human, just like she was.
She was a businesswoman who didn’t believe in helping this kind of population. She was somebody who just needed to sell a Xerox machine.
BRIGHT: And has she come to help?
NP: You know what she did? I received a call from this man and it was her husband. And he tells me, “Sister, my name is Alfonso and tonight my wife came and asked me to tell you to do whatever you need. I don’t know what you did to her, but this is what she told me. So whenever you need my help, I’m here to help.”
I never called them but I’m sure that if I did, they would help me in any way.
BRIGHT: How do you think about the ethics of your work? Is it morally right to break an unjust law in order to help somebody? For instance, is it wrong to give water to people who crossed the border illegally?
NP: I think that above all human law is God’s law. I think that helps us define what is a good law and what isn’t. We have a mission to protect human life. We are God’s ambassadors to make sure that we cherish and defend life, because [life] is a blessing.
Anything that goes against that must not be a good law. I don’t think we are wrong in doing that. And I think that we stand to hold a very good argument in any court when we speak about defending life. We are doing humanitarian work. There’s nothing wrong with giving water to another human being that needs water or food or any humanitarian response.
You just have to be convinced that what you are doing is good to another human being, and not be involved in politics. Don’t think about the legal aspect of breaking a law or not breaking a law; you should stand up for what you believe.
We may be arrested, but I don’t think that we have to worry about anything. As long as my intentions are clearly for giving humanitarian care, I don’t think anybody can hold anything against us.
BRIGHT: With the work that you do, have you faced any skirmishes? Have there been moments where you’ve been afraid?
NP: Not at all. I am not afraid. I realized that what I’m doing is the right thing to do. It’s possible that somebody doesn’t agree with what I’m doing and could do something that may hurt me, it’s possible. But I’m not afraid. I believe that [regardless of] what happens, it’s more important to do what I do and go forward. So that’s all I’m focusing on.
BRIGHT: Do you have any advice for people who want to do the kind of work that you do, but fear the consequences?
NP: I would say to anybody that they have to be truly connected with the reason why they are doing it. Is it personal, or for their own gain?
I strongly believe that you must not do it for yourself, but because you love what you are doing, and you want to help and be an activist and a defender of the people.
I think it’s important that it’s not about you, but that it’s about God, and God’s mission to defend and protect life. And being afraid is something we must overcome. And so do not be afraid. You’ll be okay no matter what happens.
BRIGHT: Is there anything you’d want to tell the U.S. government, in terms of how they are dealing with immigrants and refugees?
NP: I believe that any administration should allow itself to be informed by people who are directly involved, and that policies and laws must be informed by the present reality. They must be informed before they come up with policies that affect all of us.The job is not easy, but it is one that must be informed by the people and by those who live this reality on a daily basis.
