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–by Karen Tumulty Washington Post Columnist January 11 —
To Sister Norma Pimentel, it sounded like a golden opportunity to touch the heart of a president, to give him a firsthand account of the suffering she sees every day. The night before President Trump’s Thursday visit to McAllen, Tex., Sister Norma, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, got a call from the Border Patrol, inviting her to join the president at a roundtable discussion.
It was understandable that she would be asked to be a part of anything that purports to be a serious, high-level discussion of immigration issues along the U.S.-Mexico border. Sister Norma is something of a local hero, loved and respected for the respite center that she runs near the McAllen bus station, working with law enforcement and an army of volunteers to help hundreds of desperate migrants every day. These people are in this country legally, most of them wearing electronic ankle monitors, as they await a court hearing on their requests for asylum.
Even Pope Francis has hailed her work, singling her out in a 2015 broadcast. “I want to thank you,” said Francis, “And through you to thank all of the sisters of religious orders in the U.S. for the work that you have done and that you do in the United States . . . is it appropriate for the pope to say this? I love you all very much.”
Sister Norma had written an open letter to Trump, which was published by The Post, imploring the president to see her respite center for himself, and to meet some of the people who come through: “Some days, we see 20 people. Other days, it’s closer to 300. In recent weeks, it has been very busy. Some stay a few hours, but many spend the night before heading on to new destinations. Since we opened, more than 100,000 have come through our doors.”
(To read the full article, go to https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sister-norma-wanted-to-show-trump-what-it-is-like-on-the-border-he-didnt-care-to-listen/2019/01/11/
