Accompaniment may be a word you think of in terms of music–as in musical accompaniment. Accompaniment is also a word that can be used to describe how we accompany each other through a particular journey (or the journey of daily life) through presence, listening, and walking alongside without leading or controlling someone’s journey, pace, or feelings. Accompaniment may come from a faith-based/spiritual perspective, or it may not be tied to that perspective at all, instead coming from an individual interest, compassion, or empathy for someone else in our lives. It can be impactful for all who are part of that accompaniment and the accompaniment can be manifested in various ways and who is accompanying whom (and how) may change at various stages of the journey.
During March 2026, I was part of a faculty group from Fordham University that went on a border immersion trip in and around Tucson, Arizona, which included crossing into and spending time in Mexico, particularly the Nogales area. I saw and felt accompaniment in ways that I am still processing, from interacting and building community with faculty colleagues I did and did not know before the trip (where accompaniment may have been through shared experiences, meals, and being helped in circumventing beautiful yet harsh terrain and watching others give and receive such assistance); meeting with those on both the U.S. and Mexico side of border who are providing services that may have necessarily become very different than in the past (including some who have been involved with such work for decades); seeing several Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers and meeting briefly with one Border Patrol agent in particular who was slated to provide a more elongated tour of facilities but was restricted from doing so due to the effect of U.S. government shutdown; and hearing from those who had their own immigrant/migrant journey that may have been many years ago or more recently, including a young man in his 20s in a federal detention center/prison who had been taken, along with his brother, several months before by what I could only describe as “bounty hunters” with no affiliation with any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, who turned them over to ICE or other federal law enforcement officials. The fact that they had the necessary legal papers with them – at the time they were taken – to live and work in the US, were in the midst of following the required legal process toward U.S. citizenship that began when the family (father, mother, and the two brothers) crossed earlier, and had not in any way violated those papers or that process–none of that has made a difference, or at least had not yet at the time of this writing, as they continue to navigate both the original process and the current legal process.
As I mentioned, I still am processing how I was accompanied through the various experiences and ways in which I may continue in that accompaniment–and perhaps use my own background and what I can continue to learn–to accompany others, never forgetting how through those experiences and what I may be able to learn and do, others have accompanied, and are accompanying, me in my own journey of living and learning. I am grateful for that.
Below are some pictures from the sites we visited and those with whom we had the honor to interact.
One of the first places we visited was a federal detention center/prison in Florence, AZ. Bob Kee from Tucson Samaritans: https://www.tucsonsamaritans.org/take-action was our guide for this experience.
Casa de la Misericordia: https://www.casamtn.org/ in Nogalas, Sonora, Mexico.
Another day involved a planned tour at a Border Patrol facility. Here is their strategy outlined.
Although our tour was canceled due to the U.S. government shutdown, the Border Patrol agent scheduled to give our tour came in from the desert where he was on law enforcement duties to talk with us for a few minutes. He noted that current policy is about not allowing any “incursions” across the border. In the picture, he is showing our group some of the technology he can use on his phone.
Our guide Sister Lika from Casa de la Misericordia showing how they make ukuleles.
From Casa de la Misericordia: https://www.casamtn.org/ in Nogalas, Sonora, Mexico.
Our guide Iñigo from Kino Border Initiative: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/
Iñigo showed us a memorial along the border wall for José Antonio Elena Rodriguez who, at 16, was shot and killed by a border patrol agent in 2012 a few blocks from José’s home.
Kino Border Initiative: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/
While visiting Kino Border Initiative: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/, we saw Fordham alum Christian, who was interning there. His eyes lit up as he recognized some of his former faculty and theirs when they saw him. It was a boost for all, even for those of us who had not met Christian before.
Our group walking to cross border from Mexico to U.S. following visit to Kino Border Initiative: https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/
Some of the beauty and harshness of the desert with border wall in the distance. Randy Mayer from Green Valley Samaritans: https://www.gvs-samaritans.org/ was our guide for this experience.
More from the desert with closer view of the border wall.
Two of the vehicles that helped us “off road” into and out of the desert. This is on a road that is partially paved and partially gravel that goes along the border wall.
On the last night of our trip, we attended a dinner with many of those who have been involved in this work for decades and as part of the sanctuary movement that began in the 1980s in and around Tucson. We were honored to be in their presence.
One member of our group with Dora Rodriguez, whose memoir detailing her own journey from El Salvador when she was 19 – Dora: A Daughter of Unforgiving Terrain – was a book we had the opportunity to read and discuss before the trip. The organization she started is https://salvavision.org/. Another organization related to someone not pictured (Isabel Garcia) is Coalición de Derechos Humanos: https://derechoshumanosaz.net/coalition- work/national-network-for-immigrant-and-refugee-rights/, an organization focused on providing legal accompaniment and services.
Pictured with members of our group are Rev. John Fife (seated), an activist and retired Presbyterian minister, and Rev. Randy Mayer, pastor of Good Shepherd United Church of Christ and co-founder of Green Valley Samaritans. Randy was our guide earlier in the day in the desert. His accompaniment involved a fairly quick driving and walking pace – which may have led to brief moments of losing sight of him by those of us in one of the trailing vehicles.
