About  Latino Immigrants

In the United States today, the pan-ethnic terms Hispanic and Latino/a are generally synonymous, describing individuals who trace their origins to Spain and/or Latin America.  Increasingly, the gender-neutral word Latinx is becoming a more accepted term.  Overwhelmingly, first-generation immigrants refer to themselves as Mexican, Guatemalan, Chilean, Colombian, or from their country of nationality.

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The Latinx community in the Greater Fredericksburg, Virginia area ranges from 10% to 13% of the overall population.  Most hail from Mexico and Central America, with relatively few coming from South America or the Caribbean.  Many factors lie behind why Latin Americans choose to uproot themselves and their families to journey to the United States, sometimes over perilous land routes crossing some of the world’s most unforgiving landscapes.  Among the reasons are: lack of employment; extreme hunger; gang violence; police brutality; climate change; corrupt government officials; and others.

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From our arrival in Fredericksburg in 1999, and especially since our appointments with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia in 2003 and then with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (Global) in 2006, we’ve sought to meet the needs of Latinx immigrants by building relationships and meeting them where they are.  Feeding the hungry, translating at doctor’s and other appointments, attending teacher-parent meetings, counseling adults, youth and families, helping them apply for immigration benefits, organizing children’s and youth activities, and gathering and delivering school supplies, clothes and Christmas toys have been just some of the ways we have used to listen to their concerns, walk with them through difficult moments, and lead them to find answers to their problems.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has served to isolate the Latinx community further as well as to undermine their ability to integrate fully into the larger non-Latinx society.   Government processing of immigration cases have slowed down considerably; children who fell behind in school due to online learning are finding it difficult to catch up; parents working multiple jobs often can’t pay their bills; immigrants traumatized by fleeing their countries and entering inhospitable environments need counseling.  Our main challenge going forward is to help our immigrant friends and  neighbors adjust to new post-pandemic realities as we bear witness to Jesus Christ, cultivate beloved community, and seek transformational development.