Hopelessness runs rampant on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. As the crisis intensifies, hear from individuals on both sides who’ve been deeply affected and be encouraged by how churches are partnering together to bring the much-needed message of the Gospel to those hurting.
(Reporter)
At the southern border,
the situation continues to
escalate.
(Various Reporters)
Unlawful crossings
have reached a yearly high.
– In the midst of this growing
humanitarian crisis,
officials are placing
increased pressure…
– Local law enforcement
is being put to the test
and this crisis
is taking a huge toll.
(Woman) Living in a border town
brings a lot of fears.
(Woman) I think it’s like a big
emotional roller coaster.
(Man) These are real problems.
We’re in an unusual time.
(Woman) You look at
the number of people
that have died at the border…
It changes the way you think
about what’s happening.
(Man) Here in the border region
there’s suffering all around.
(Man)
The vast majority of people are
in desperate need of hope.
(Graham) The greatest need of
the human heart is spiritual.
The turmoil that happens
in the world
definitely impacts
our community.
People all around us
are hurting.
I can see it in their eyes.
They’re looking for
some type of answer.
(Woman) It’s for such a time
as this that we’re here today.
(Graham)
Everything is about the Gospel!
Without the Gospel, there’s
nothing, there is no hope!
Hello, I’m Franklin Graham.
People from many
different backgrounds,
political, spiritual,
whatever the case may be,
they all agree that our southern
border is in a crisis.
The needs there
are incredible.
The physical, the spiritual,
the emotional needs–
they run deep
on both sides of the border.
And it seems like every day
there are new reports
that bring greater concern,
and that should prompt us
to pray.
The only hope for this border
is God.
We’re getting ready
to go to the border
to take the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we’re going to go from
the Gulf of Mexico
all the way to the Pacific
to preach and proclaim
the Gospel.
People are hurting,
people have lost hope,
many people don’t know
where to turn.
Across the country,
cities are grappling with
an influx of asylum seekers.
(Reporter)
They’re part of a new wave
of thousands
amid a surge in illegal
migration to the U.S.
(Reporter)
Officials tell us that migrants
are arriving from a vast array
of countries
across Latin America.
(Crabtree)
Here at Eagle Pass
they’ve apprehended
people from
over 150 nations.
Not just Central America
and South America–
they’re coming from
East Asia; they’re coming
from everywhere.
(Reporter)
There were over 300,000
illegal crossings
at the southern border
in December
and a record 3 million migrants
crossed the border
in the last year.
(Reporter) The frustration is
that there’s no place to put
these people and there
is a concern for
their health and their welfare.
(Reporters)
Record numbers of migrants
have holding facilities
bursting at the seams.
– Recent inspections
have found 900 migrants
housed in spaces that are only
supposed to hold 125.
(Cheng)
It wasn’t like this
in years past.
Global migration patterns
are changing and it just really
speaks to, sort of, the volume
of desperation in so many
of these other countries.
(Speaking Spanish)
(Man)
What’s he saying?
He’s saying, family is on
the other side of Mexico,
that they beat them,
they rape the women,
beat the kids.
They abuse everybody.
That, essentially,
Mexico is death,
and here,
at least they’re in jail.
(speaking Spanish)
(Crabtree)
This is such a hot button topic
and it doesn’t matter
which side of the aisle
you sit on politically,
you just speak out
one or two words
and you have a landmine.
This is an invasion on America
and you know it!
You all have an agenda!
We’ve created these situations
in Central America.
It is our responsibility
to help protect the victims
that we created.
(Crabtree) The anger just
seems like it’s boiling over on
both sides of the issue.
It’s become so volatile.
Rural folks that live in this
county have people coming
through their yards every night.
They’re coming up
through their pastures.
Or they die on their property.
(Woman)
Somebody call Border Patrol!
(Schuster)
They were yelling at us
in English:
Hey, guys!
Open up!
They kept knocking.
We’re afraid
in our own homes.
We’ve had to keep
everything locked.
We’re really scared.
Many of these migrants are
running away from bad
situations in their country.
But there’s also a criminal
element coming here.
(Reporter)
Many Central American migrants
are being influenced by
smugglers
and their rosy pitches
of an easy journey North.
(Vitiello) Cartels are really
taking advantage
of the human trafficking
scenario.
People owe the cartel
and sometimes that fee
is extracted in heinous ways.
(Brand)
If you can’t pay,
you’re gonna work for them,
and in a lot of cases,
it’s worse that anything
they were running away from
to begin with.
But there’s another
big issue at the border.
Drugs,
specifically fentanyl.
(Dannels)
But until they start addressing
these criminal cartels
they’re gonna harm people
and they’re gonna kill people
with drugs.
(Lamphere)
It’s massively taxing
the Border Patrol agents.
The amount of suicides
over the last
two years is unprecedented.
(Vitiello) Boarder patrol agents
are some of
the most compassionate people
I know because they see
things in the job
most Americans will never see,
things that are very tragic.
That does affect people
as you can imagine it would.
(Cheng)
The desperation
on people’s faces strikes home.
(Man)
I’ve been through depression,
I am going through depression,
anxiety, I failed,
I could’ve committed suicide.
You know?
I lost 30 pounds,
40 pounds.
I’m like a crazy person
in the street.
(Cheng)
People are looking for hope
and safety.
And they’re desperate enough
to literally face
death.
You look at the number of people
that have died at the border.
Small children who have
drowned in that river.
It changes the way you think
about what’s happened.
(Velazquez) This situation could
seem hopeless, but it’s not.
I believe in the mighty God.
He’s an awesome God
and He will provide.
(Speaking Spanish)
(Perea)
In the midst of this chaos
we minister to these people.
We provide hot meals,
we clothe them.
We actually embrace them.
We gather them, sometimes,
in prayer.
We do this all in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
When they see us come forward
and offer a place to stay,
a warm bed, a roof and food,
it changes everything for them.
No one can offer them anything
better than the love of God.
(Speaking Spanish)
(Speaking Spanish)
They serve us a meal.
They’ve given us shoes
and a new jacket.
I’m very grateful.
(Speaking Spanish)
(Speaking Spanish)
It meant so much to have
someone tell
that God was with us.
And that He never
abandoned us.
This is the most encouraging day
I’ve had in a long time.
(Velazquez)
What looked like chaos
is basically an opportunity.
We need people teaching others
the love of the true,
merciful God.
I’m so grateful for
the churches, the pastors,
the Christians
that are there working
and trying to make an impact
in the name of Jesus Christ.
And we want to help them,
we want to strengthen them,
we want to be an encouragement
and so we’re coming
not only to preach and proclaim
the Gospel, we’re coming
in the name of Christ,
and we want to be
an encouragement
to strengthen the body
of Christ.
(Voice-over)
The Franklin Graham
God Loves You
Frontera Tour is
a series of
evangelistic events
coming to ten cities
along the border.
These free events
will offer
live music and
a message of hope
for a region
in desperate need.
If you’ve never trusted
Jesus Christ
as your Savior,
you can do that
tonight.
(Voice-over)
Learn more about this outreach
and how local believers
are helping…coming up.
(Young)
People all around us
are hurting.
And we don’t have
the eyes to see it.
We have to go outside
of the church
to engage with
people.
(Norma Cantu)
We want to
reach the city,
but how do we
do this?
(Voice-over)
This is the right moment
to share the Gospel.
♪
God loves you.
(Interpreter) Dios te ama.
(Graham)
The people of the border
need to know that Jesus Christ
died and shed His blood
for each and every one.
♪
What we’re facing
on the southern border
touches many areas of life.
There are repercussions from
this crisis that are affecting
people in many different ways.
These issues aren’t just
physical problems
that can be solved with
more money or more resources.
There’s heartache here,
there’s pain
that leaves an everlasting mark
that only God can solve.
(Mayra Cantu)
I was raised very traditional.
My mother really sacrificed
a lot to come to this country.
My mother’s originally
from Mexico.
My love for America
stems from my father.
He is a veteran and he told us
how great this country is
and, just be appreciative.
My name is Mayra
and I’m married to
a border patrol agent.
My husband has been
a border patrol agent
for sixteen years.
I think the work that he does
is heroic.
A border patrol agent
is the front line,
the first line of defense
for our country.
(sirens blaring)
(helicopter rotors thumping)
(Mayra) The border patrol’s
always been kind of
given that bad angle, like,
they’re the bad guys, you know?
And I don’t think people really
realize how much work they do,
how many lives they rescue.
How many times they’ve been
there for another human being.
I think it’s like a big
emotional roller coaster.
Dealing with really bad guys
to saving a 3-year-old.
It can happen in one shift.
(helicopter rotors thumping)
(Speaking Spanish)
My name is Diana,
and I’m from Michoacán.
I have no words.
I never thought my family would
go through something like this.
(engines racing)
♪
(Diana speaking Spanish)
My husband, he was kidnapped.
I was very afraid,
I was shocked.
You don’t know how to react
in that situation.
He managed to escape
the same day he was abducted
but the following day,
two other people he was with
were found dead.
When my husband called me,
we left town.
He told me we could hide
in Tijuana.
But unfortunately,
they were monitoring him.
They knew that
we were in Tijuana.
On Tuesday, we left the place
that we were hiding.
(indistinct conversations)
It’s been a very difficult
journey,
especially for my children.
What can I say?
It’s very hard to see them here.
Everything, everything,
everything has been difficult.
We have struggled a lot,
especially my children.
They’re young,
so they still don’t know
what the future holds for us.
(Mayra Cantu)
Our agents are humans.
They’re fathers,
they’re brothers.
It’s an emotional job.
And it takes a lot
to control those emotions,
place those emotions.
But as a border patrol agent,
that experience is hard
to let go of for my husband.
It was too hard
for him to process.
I believe it’s too hard
for them to process
that they suppress
that emotion.
They have to handle it
themselves.
So that does something to you.
“Okay, what happened at work?”
I would tell him, and,
“Nothing.”
He wouldn’t talk,
and he wouldn’t talk and
he wouldn’t talk.
(sirens blaring)
(Mayra Cantu)
As the days went by,
with these extreme changes,
I noticed my husband’s
mood began to change.
He became more distant.
Kept to himself and would spend
his days sleeping.
As things got worse
on the border,
so did my husband.
(Mayra Cantu)
My perspective
completely changed
when in the middle of the night
he’s dreaming,
and he’s, like, running.
He’s fighting.
And I could tell
he’s dreaming so heavily.
And just out of nowhere,
he like, screams in,
it’s just the terror,
like a completely
different tone.
It didn’t sound like him.
And he’s screaming,
“La niña!”
Screaming as if this little
girl’s life was in danger.
I was so terrified at the volume
and tone, I froze.
It was so terrifying.
Normally I’m like,
“Hey, calm down!
Like, “Wake up!”
Like, “You’re screaming.”
No…it scared me so bad.
It was like the worst case
scenario was happening
in his dream
and he’s screaming out loud.
And it broke my heart,
because although it was
so heartbreaking for me,
not to be able to do
anything for him.
But we’ve invested in this job.
You gotta do it together.
(Graham)
When you hear the stories
of the people
that are down there
on the border,
I tell you what–
it kind of grips your heart,
kind of breaks your heart.
And there are people
around us every day
that are in desperate need–
okay?–desperate.
And people are discouraged.
People have lost hope,
and that’s why it’s so important
that we take the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ
to those that are searching
for life’s answers.
(Norma Cantu)
We’ve been praying
for a long time
for an awakening
in our city.
Living in a border town,
brings a lot of, uh, fears.
We see a lot of gang violence,
substance abuse,
depression, anxiety.
Because of all the challenges
that we have in
this border town,
in our community,
I know that the answer is God.
It’s for such a time as this
that we’re here today.
♪
(Young)
Tucson is a very friendly town,
a western town that hasn’t
lost that touch yet.
We do have a lot of cultures
that come together.
That’s a big part of it
and a great part of it.
We’re in an unusual time
where there are problems
that we are facing today
like we’ve never faced before.
(James)
When I go out and skate
out on the streets
I think the one thing
that I see is just,
people just trying to get by.
They’re looking for
some type of answer.
I can see it in their eyes.
They want more.
For me,
people in my community
against the world,
that’s what we’re called to do.
(Norma)
I think there’s a sense
of urgency
because of all the challenges
that we have in our community.
Jesus Christ came for the weak,
He came for the poor.
He came for the one
that was broken.
That’s what He came for.
And in this short time
that we are here,
how can we get
the Gospel to everyone?
We need to go out
into the streets.
(Graham)
I believe the southern border
is the neediest part
of the United States right now.
That it’s an opportunity.
There’s power in the Gospel
that can change, no question,
not only individual lives,
but it can change a community.
(Young)
In this world,
as troubled as it is right now,
we’re ambassadors
of the Gospel of Christ.
The way we’re going to be
an ambassador for Christ
is to speak.
We have to count people.
(Norma)
The question is:
How do we do it?
How can we now
put this into practice
and evangelize
at a bigger scale.
We need this, but we don’t
know where to start.
(Graham)
As I saw what was
happening on the border,
I just felt God put a burden
on my heart to lift up Christ
in the middle of this crisis
and make Him known.
So we’re going to ten cities
along the border to proclaim
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We’re gonna start
in the Gulf Coast,
down in Brownsville, Texas,
all the way to Chula Vista,
California,
on the Pacific Coast.
And we’ll see many
thousands of people
put their faith and trust
in Jesus Christ.
When I heard about
the Franklin Graham tour
coming to Chula Vista,
I was fired up!
I think it’s great and
I want to be a part of it.
I’ve been praying,
“Lord, the community,
“Lord, the city.
“How do we do this?”
and that was my prayer.
So when I see the tour
coming to Brownsville,
I’m like, “God, You know
where we’re at.”
We felt it was God saying,
“It’s time.”
(Perea) The God Loves You
Frontera Tour is gonna impact
not only the church, but also
the people that need to hear
Jesus Christ, so we’re excited!
When an event like this happens,
it just, it just blows the lid
off of everything.
(Velazquez) I feel a revival.
I’m so excited
and looking forward to it.
He is a faithful God.
He has our back,
He will not forsake us.
(Rivas)
We’re gathered here in the Night
of Prayer and Worship to
pray for the Frontera Tour.
I see people worshiping
in Spanish and I see people
worshiping in English.
(Velasquez) We’re believing
that this year, in 2024,
both sides of the border
will become ablaze and on fire
for Jesus, but it also
our responsibility
as the body of Christ
to invite everyone
who God has put into our lives.
I think that’s just
a wake up call.
How much more is God
gonna do to shake us up
before He gets our attention?
Tomorrow’s not promised to us.
What I’ve realized is that
we’re living in borrowed time.
I want to make sure that
I don’t delay anymore.
We need to reach the world,
and I’m gonna start
in my community.
Preach it! Proclaim it!
Shout it!
♪ This is our God,
this is who He is ♪
♪ He loves us ♪
♪ This is our God,
this is what He does ♪
♪ He saves us ♪
(James)
Jesus has changed my life
so I wanna share that
with you guys.
You all got purpose!
Got purpose in this world.
(Graham)
We’re gonna do everything
that we can in our power
to tell people that God loves
them, that Christ died for them.
(James)
My sins were paid by the death
of Jesus on the cross.
We’re not called to keep that
all inside of us.
♪ This is our God,
this is who He is ♪
♪ He loves us ♪
(Graham)
“God so loved the world
“that He gave
His only begotten Son,
“that whosoever
believeth in Him,
“should not perish but should
have everlasting life.”
You have a choice to make.
♪ This is our God,
King Jesus ♪
(James) We want to be able to
give them something everlasting
and that is a message of Christ,
that He died for our sins,
that He has a plan for us,
that we’re gonna have
that everlasting life
and relationship with Him.
(Norma) Jesus is the way,
the truth, and the life.
And no one comes to the Father
but through Him.
(applause and cheering)
(Graham)
As you watched this program
and you see the hopelessness
that’s along the border,
and maybe you feel,
well, you’re there.
That your life is in crisis and
that you don’t have any hope.
Well, I want you to know
that God loves you.
that God cares for you.
The Bible says that
“God so loved the world
“that He gave
His only begotten Son,
“that whosoever believeth
in Him shouldn’t perish
“but should have
everlasting life.”
There was a guy
in the Scriptures,
a guy by the name of Bartimaeus,
who had no hope.
And he was blind.
And he was sitting
on the side of the road.
The only job he had
was begging.
He had heard about a stranger
from Galilee,
a man by the name of Jesus.
He had raised dead people.
He had cured people
of leprosy.
Weel, all of a sudden,
here’s this commotion,
and he asked somebody,
“What’s going on?”
He said, “Well, Jesus is
passing by.”
Jesus was on His way
through Jericho,
on His way up to Jerusalem,
where He was going to be
crucified on a cross.
And as He’s coming
into Jericho,
there’s thousands of people
that are following him,
and Bartimaeus cries
as the top of his voice,
“Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me!”
He knew that Jesus
could heal him
if he could just get
Jesus to stop.
And Jesus stopped, and said,
“Call him.”
And when Bartimaeus came
to Jesus, I think
Jesus probably had
a little bit of a smile
on His face.
He said, “Bartimaeus, what do
you want me to do for you?”
And Bartimaeus said,
“Rabbi, that I might see.”
And at that moment,
his eyes were opened,
and he could see Jesus.
And the Bible says that
Bartimaeus followed Jesus
along the way.
Jesus was on the way
to the cross.
I think Bartimaeus followed
Jesus all the way to Jerusalem.
Leaping and jumping
and praising God.
You see, God loves you.
The Bible says we’ve all sinned.
We’ve all come short
of God’s standards,
that “the wages of sin
is death,
“but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus.”
Jesus came to save us
from our sins.
He came to take our sins.
And He died and shed His blood
on a cross for our sins.
He was buried; on the third day
God raised Him to life.
If you’ve never trusted
Jesus Christ as your savior,
you can do it right now.
Just pray this prayer
with me.
Just say, Dear God,
I’m a sinner.
I’m sorry.
I want to turn from my sins.
I believe Jesus is Your Son.
I believe that He took
my sins to the cross,
died in my place,
and I believe that You’ve
raised Him to life.
I’d like to invite Him
to come into my heart
to take control, and I pray this
in Jesus’ name, amen.
If you prayed that prayer,
contact us.
We’ve got some
literature that we’d
like to share with you
and give to you.
And I want to say
to all of you that
have been watching,
thank you for
watching.
Thank you for
your prayers.
Thank you for
your support.
But remember to pray
for the border,
for the churches
that are there,
the Christians,
the pastors,
those that are trying
to be the hands and feet
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
pray for them.
Thank you
and God bless you.
(Voice-over)
The God Loves You
Frontera Tour
will boldly share
the name of Jesus
in 10 cities
along the southern border.
Events feature music
from Marcos Witt, Taya,
Dennis Agajanian.
In select cities, Jeremy Camp,
and a message
by Franklin Graham.
God loves you.
(Voice-over)
Partner with the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association
in the mission
of proclaiming the Gospel.
(Cheering)
♪ (Singing in Spanish) ♪
(Voice-over)
We continue to share God’s love
to those who need Jesus Christ
through evangelistic
God Loves You Tours
and Franklin Graham Festivals
around the world.
He knows your name
here tonight.
And as I speaking tonight,
He’s calling some of you.
(Voice-over)
Join us in taking the Gospel
to the ends of the earth.
Visit BillyGraham.tv
or call 877-567-8989.
♪ (Singing in Spanish) ♪
If you’d like to know more
about the importance
of the cross of Jesus Christ,
we’d like to send you
the Billy Graham book,
What Happened at the Cross,
the Price of Victory.
Call 877-567-8989.
Or go to BillyGraham.tv.