LGBT Coalition members and guest gather in front of the UCC's Centro Romero building in San Ysidro, Calif., prior to their immersion trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Photo Gregg Brekke.

The unassuming hillside church building that houses the UCC's Centro Romero ministry in San Ysidro, Calif., looks like many of the homes in its expansive neighborhood save the stuccoed steeple and white cross.

Yet, the location has become the epicenter where hundreds of people have participated in "immersion" experiences across the nearby border with Mexico. Founded in 2007, the Daniel F. Romero Center for Border Ministries is a project of the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries, in partnership with the Southern California-Nevada Conference, that helps participants explore the theological, social and political realities of border policies and migration between the U.S. and Mexico.

The Rev. Carlos J. Correa Bernier, Centro Romero program director, hosted a July 13-14 immersion experience in conjunction with the UCC's Coalition for LGBT Concerns gathering held in San Diego. Twelve coalition members and guests joined Bernier for a day-long excursion in Tijuana, Mexico, along with pre- and post-immersion theological reflections.

Highlighting the root causes of migration, Bernier cited the economic difficulties experienced by Mexicans in light of a growing trade deficit, the flooding of Mexican markets with surplus agricultural goods from the United States and the availability of lucrative paying work in the U.S. despite the dangers of illegal border crossings.

Standing on a hill overlooking a shanty-town in Tijuana, Bernier explained that most of the adult residents of the tin and cardboard constructed homes work in the foreign-owned factories, called maquiladoras, that loom over the shacks.

"This community is a non-existent community," said Bernier, describing the unrecognized status of residents of the shanty-town which lacks water, electricity, schools, hospitals and fire or police services. "The only reason they are here is this land has no meaning or value to the government. If [the land had value], they would be bulldozed out of here in a heartbeat."

Lupita, a nun at the Casa de la Pobres complex in Tijuana, Mexico, describes an exam room's facilities at their clinic. Photo Gregg Brekke.

The group also visited Casa de la Pobres (House of the Poor), a ministry run by Franciscan sisters. The facility hosts community meals, a food bank and a clinic with medical, dental and pharmacy facilities, among other services for the neighborhood. Ellen Bushmiller, a registered nurse and member of First Congregational UCC in Washington, D.C., was impressed by the cleanliness of the clinic. "If I were injured, that's where I'd like to go," she said.

A visit to the border fence that pierces into the Pacific Ocean was the final stop on the group's Tijuana itinerary. Located at the site of the former international "friendship park," the park is now barricaded, secured with barbed-wire and constantly guarded on the ground by U.S. Border Patrol agents and from the air with U.S. Marine Apache helicopters.

On her first trip to the border region, Alyssa Rose of nearby Riverside, Calif., was surprised by the differences she saw in Tijuana. "The immersion experience has been very eye opening," she said. "I grew up in a town that was 75 percent Mexican heritage and people used to joke about going to Tijuana to party. What we've seen today … it is not a joke."

Border fence at the Mexico/U.S. border in Tijuana. Photo Gregg Brekke.

Following an additional day of theological reflection Lydia York, a PhD candidate in theology at Drew University, was reflective about the immersion day. "I need to digest all that I've seen and all that I feel and find a way to continue the conversation," she said. "It's already playing into my theology and can see the experience improving my research and writing."

York also found parallels in the context of Coalition members' participation in the immersion. "As a justice seeking movement the LGBT Coalition crosses various barriers, even within itself," she said. "The benefit to my understanding of justice is to see where multiple oppressions and multiple identities cross."

Bernier has led many groups from Centro Romero, noting that no two immersion experiences are the same - individual members and the group as a whole come to a unique understanding of border realities. "If we really want to solve the problems we see," he said, recalling the group's reaction to meeting a young boy near the shanty-town, "we need to engage others in discussion on how we approach these problems theologically."

More information on Centro Romero and its broad range of educational programs and immersion seminars can be found at <ucc.org/justice/centro-romero/>.