Joseph and Mary searched despondent North Star-driven evenings, seeking refuge, safety, and comfort. Mary still with child, the couple was turned away eight nights before they, and the unborn savior, were able to rest on presepios (a bed of straw) in a barn in the town of Bethlehem. Their journey and routine dismissal is relived by migrant families, who gather on the Mexico-side of the border -- to celebrate the annual bi-national posada, or La Posada Sin Fronteras (Lodging without Borders) -- where participants ask to take refuge in the United States, but are refused.

Migrants and community members participate in the event singing an adaptation of traditional songs and taking on roles of the destitute and the shunner in biblical history. Mexican families across the border's steel bars repeatedly asked for refuge, and the participants on the American side of the border turned them way several times, before a resolution was met. However, unlike Mary and Joseph, Mexico-citizens were not accepted. Instead, America-dwelling migrants crossed the border fence into Mexico at the port of entry, and the group met at the Resource Center for Migrants, where hot chocolate and sweet bread was shared.

Many compare Mary and Joseph's strife to that of the migrants seeking a better life in America, who often find obstacles where they assumed opportunities would lie. The bi-national serenades of songs, such as of "Silent Night", "Para Pedir Posada" and other others in English and Spanish, make mention of the couple's journey, communicating similarities between the couple and the hopeful immigrant. There being a commonality of struggle, faith, and the anticipation of community.

"Mary and Joseph had a similar pilgrimage, looking for refuge, looking for a place of compassion," said Minerva Carcaño, Bishop of the Los Angeles episcopal area for The United Methodist Church. "This is the migrants' experience of journeying from a place of great suffering to look for a place to lodge, so their children can grow."

The need to find a location where one can happily raise one's families has led hundreds of thousands to cross illegally; they, in turn, are apprehended and deported. And, for those who aren't deported, they have to work outside of the system, and elude any possible detection of the illegal status.

The bi-national posada carries a theme of 'families united without borders' which brings attention to the fact that families are broken and separated by the border and also inspires hope during a time of record-breaking deportation of illegal immigrants.

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