The summer of 2023 brought many forced migrations to cities in the North and Northeast and created a “crisis.” Coverage of the border, particularly Eagle Pass in Texas, presented a chaotic situation. Even when the images were not chaotic, news reporters told us it was the calm before the storm.

Eagle Pass is one of many entry and crossing points along the southern U.S. border. No doubt we have Republicans on a “fact-finding” junket, and they will see what they want to see. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas recently disputed that Eagle Pass represented the border situation. One will not find any Republicans grandstanding in McAllen or Brownsville. Political and news media coverage belies and denigrates these border regions’ remarkable efforts to cope with an international issue.

While authorities have militarized Eagle Pass with razor wire, buoys, and Texas Wildlife boats, the scenes along the border from Mission to Brownsville are quiet. In the once beautiful public Anzalduas Park, far south of Eagle Pass, the scenes are one of a lonely fisherman fishing on the Rio Grande border with guardians having lunch. In addition, the Texas Wildlife Service has parked many of its boats and vehicles in a lot that was once a picnic area.

While the Border Patrol is present, it is not busy, and the National Guard, which we saw in November, seems absent. In addition to this park, there is a campground on the Rio Grande (behind the wall) with a boat ramp and a small mission, La Lomita, with an abandoned bordello in the river accessible by a dirt road. These sites have direct access to the Rio Grande. No doubt the “border issue” has securitized and militarized the area, but one would not know it given the community’s resilience and ability to adapt. The communities are remarkably friendly places welcoming thousands of Midwesterners seeking their version of Miami.

Residing as a visitor on eight occasions, parking in a senior living park, and working for Catholic Charities under the inspirational leadership of Sister Norma, we offer the following observations.

Along the Texas-Mexico border, several humanitarian centers provide essential services to migrants. The per capita income of Rio Grande Valley is one-third of Massachusetts’. In McAllen, Texas, for example, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley operates a humanitarian center that not only processes hundreds of migrants daily but also offers temporary housing, clothing, and meals as they seek more permanent living arrangements.

What’s remarkable is that a diverse group of individuals from various backgrounds, including ranchers from central Texas, evangelicals from Wisconsin, numerous religious sisters, including an 80-year-old sister who did time for chaining herself to the gate of a detention center, winter Texans, local high school students, and even volunteers from Boston have come together to support this center and its efforts.

Local businesses, restaurants, and individuals play a crucial role by providing food and dinners, sorting clothes, and offering accompaniment to migrants. The reason that it is not a crisis in these communities is that they respond daily in a way that is ordinary in an extraordinary way.

In Massachusetts, while the National Guard deployment to help emergency shelters provides temporary relief and access, there may be more effective and efficient ways. Remarkably, volunteers are not required to fill out forms or navigate bureaucratic obstacles in Texas. People call and show up.

Unfortunately, not everyone who wants to assist in the Bay State tate knows how to get involved, as highlighted by a story in the Greenfield Recorder. A key reason for volunteers is that it fosters empathy and understanding among the community for migrants and their challenging circumstances. Understandably, agencies were unprepared, and with little experience with migrants and their needs, it was a scramble. However, at the same time, valuable lessons from the border communities will be useful to the state’s public, nonprofit, and voluntary sectors.

It takes communal effort to accommodate the new migrants. It takes efforts like the way communities along the border respond. Faith-based and voluntary agencies in the state need to step up and perform like the communities along the Rio Grande have for many years.

More than civic and government action is required. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to address migrants not as a crisis but as a catalytic call to action. The faith-based and voluntary agencies will eventually get it, as their counterpart’s communities along the border did with fewer resources.

There was an effort in western Massachusetts’ rural communities to reach rural communities in Kentucky. Both communities found they had differences but more in common than separated them.

A well-resourced state such as the commonwealth would do well to learn from communities on the border, which do not have the same level of resources, but are resourceful. In this way, we can turn a crisis into an opportunity and show what it means to be a commonwealth. An enlightened commonwealth takes care of its past, present, and future citizens.

James A. Lomastro lives in Conway.