Border Priest Migrants

The Rev. Brian Strassburger elevates the host at the altar during Mass at Casa del Migrante on Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Reynosa, Mexico.

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As border dynamics change, priest keeps ministering to migrants and deportees

As border dynamics change, priest keeps ministering to migrants and deportees

Over the past five years, the Rev. Brian Strassburger has gone from ministering to throngs of asylum-seekers in overcrowded shelters at the U.S.-Mexico border to celebrating Mass with detained and deported migrants. Although border crossings have drastically changed under President Donald Trump’s administration, the priest says his mission remains centered on the Christian message “that God is accompanying you on your journey.” Based in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, Strassburger heads the Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries. He is one of three Jesuits on the staff who have been providing Mass and other sacraments to migrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border since 2021.