Archdiocese of Boston Deacon Tim Donohue recently spent time at the US-Mexico border to witness the experience of those seeking asylum and waiting for their cases to be heard. The Boston Pilot published Deacon Tim’s firsthand experience here.

Also an accomplished photographer, Tim shared some of the images he captured while in Matamoros, Mexico.

[Editor’s Note: This topic is complicated and prone to spark contentious debate. When I recently met Tim for coffee, we discussed some of these issues and I was moved to greater sympathy and understanding when I learned about the plight of these asylum seekers. The efforts that Tim describes in the linked article are focused on providing humane treatment to those waiting just across the border. The reason they seek asylum includes freedom from unspeakable violence. The graphic nature of what they have faced and the reason they want to leave that life behind, for themselves and especially for their children, sheds light on their plight. The stories are often not told partly because of how graphic and troubling they are. But if you listen to those who are waiting in the camps, then you gain a new understanding.]