“Building Homes, Creating Community“
“No Borders, No Walls”
Are you ready to learn more about U.S. immigration policy from those directly impacted?
In 2023, we will be offering two different types of Pilgrimage Experiences to the Border. In the spring of 2023, we will be traveling to Tijuana to build a tiny home for a family in an emerging community and in the fall 2023, we will be traveling to Tijuana to engage with local community leaders to learn about the plight of people at our southern border and how we can provide support
* Due to COVID-19 and to protect the health & safety of our partner communities in Tijuana, the fall 2023 will be multiplatform with a virtual option for participants.
Participants will visit with several groups providing support to deportees, attend a bi-national worship service on the border, meet with community organizers in Tijuana, share in faith development around immigration, and learn what we can do as social justice makers and faith activists when we return home.
Join UUJMCA for an immersion filled with learning, service, reflection, good food, and fellowship. It is a great way to live into your UU values along with others who are working for an immigration policy rooted in collective liberation.
Pre-register Today
In partnership with Casas de Luz, Via International & UU Refugee & Immigrant Services and Education (UURISE), we are excited to offer two new immersion experiences for UUs and UU-aligned individuals interested in learning and engaging with the realities of immigration at the California border.
Through our visits, attendees will have an opportunity to witness the effect of US Immigration policies from both sides of the border, deepen our faith connection to issues and efforts around immigration justice, and to connect with communities directly impacted by our broken immigration system.
Building Homes, Creating Communities participants will:
- build a home in Tijuana
- support a local family in owning their first home
- support an emerging community
- take concrete next steps in creating immigrant and immigration justice
No Borders, No Walls participants will:
- meet with community organizers in Tijuana
- visit with several groups providing support to deportees
- learn what we can do as social justice makers and faith activists when we return home
All participants will:
- engage in shared reflection and spiritual deepening
- deepen our understanding of our faith’s call to transform existing policies and practices
- attend a bi-national worship service on the border
- connect to the realities of our broken immigration system on both sides of the US Border
- deepen our understanding of our faith’s call to transform existing policies and practices
- share in faith development around immigration
Testimonials
Below are some reflections from previous participants. If you would like to speak with someone who has participated in a UUBorders trip, please let us know and we can arrange that.
The Discovery Doctrine was not new to me but the connection to neo-liberal economic policy now feels evident in a way I had not realized before our ongoing discussions. – Barbara Leighton, Ventura County
I’m pretty aware of the humanitarian crisis that our immigration policy in the U.S. is causing, primarily since S-Communities. I know the roots of immigrants’ misery are deep in our foreign policy. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think I needed to take this Border Trip, well, I’m glad I did because it was an uplifting, spiritual experience. – Maria Ornelas, Ventura County
I came away with a deep sadness to know that in this day and age – with all of our technology and abilities to build rockets and missiles and super computers – we haven’t found a way to ease the human pain and poverty and suffering at our common border with Mexico – except perhaps in little pockets of human movements. We’ve moved away from being close to the earth and its beings and into a weird material and cyber world that has cut us off from our roots in our ‘tierras’ and spiritual connections …. – Theresa Fellmann, Livermore