A Texas border city pastor who helps migrants after they enter the U.S. carries a firearm after receiving threats from human smugglers in recent years.
Luis Silva, a pastor in Roma, Texas, provides migrants with food, water, and other basic needs after they cross into the U.S. in addition to his church leadership duties since 2018. He began when the first migrant caravan made news as thousands from Central America made their way north. While Mexico’s government at the time tried to disperse large group, most migrants were ultimately successful and reached Miguel Aleman, opposite the border from Roma.
“The main issue is that they come with the stress of entering a new country that they know nothing about and they have been told to fear immigration authorities,” Silva said. “Many of the women and children would tell us that they come from very violent places. We try to put them at ease and show them a human side.”
To ease their concerns, Silva and some of his parishioners routinely travel to the banks of the Rio Grande where they assist the migrants and prepare them to surrender to Border Patrol.
Sometimes, the pastor and his flock are able to put groups of migrants at ease and lower tensions when Border Patrol agents need to ask questions.
However, not every interaction has been peaceful. In 2020, a group of smugglers entered his property and threatened him and his family. Since that day, Silva utilizes his Texas concealed carry license most of the time.
As Breitbart Texas has reported, other area pastors have been targeted by cartels if they are known to provide aid and ministry. In one case, a pastor who had crossed into Mexico became the victim of a carjacking. In a separate case, a church in Miguel Aleman mysteriously went up in flames.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “C.P. Mireles” from Tamaulipas.
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