Post written by Domen Xu Jinwen and Xiying Feng, Colgate 2022.

After escaping the chilling weather in upstate New York, we were welcomed by warm gentle breezes in El Paso, a city located in southern Texas just along the border. Due to the nature of its location and its sisterhood with Juarez, the city across the border in Mexico, it becomes one of the most ideal places for us to learn more about immigration policies and what people on the border are doing throughout our nine-day trip.

We started off our first day with a talk with Will Rocci and Lindy Morrison, who are dedicated to helping immigrants who are just released from the detention center and created the organization Seguimos Adelante. They facilitate communications and transportation for immigrants, welcoming them with comfortable shelters and warm meals. The situation for these immigrants got worse after the implementation of Migration Protection Protocols(MPP) in 2019, in which all illegal immigrants are no longer allowed to stay with their family members before they are called on by the court but are sent back to Mexican cities along the border to wait for court hearings. As such many families are stranded in a place they have no contacts and resources. In face of these difficulties, Will and Lindy cooperated with churches to provide shelter and food to those helpless families who may have to stay in shelters for up to 8 months before their hearings take place. They are currently aiming to raise funds to buy a van so the migrants get to travel to places outside the shelter. Anyone interested in helping these families may donate through PayPal: PayPal.me/seguimosadelante

After the talk, we walked across the border to Cuidad Juarez,Mexico through the Paso Del Norte Bridge. Then, we directly went to Ciudad Juárez’s Centro de Atención a Migrantes and met two officers, Enrique Valenzuela and Lucero Delava, working with migrants along the border. Migrant Attention Program is the fourth focus of the Population Consul that aims to make sure everybody has access to healthcare and has the chance to get shelter. Besides the traditionally considered “Casa del Migrante” sponsored by the Annunciation House, some faith-based organizations —mostly evangelic in origin —integrated a network of shelters, which played an important role regarding migrant attention. In 2019, with the implementation of the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) by the U.S., the migration officers had begun to monitor the MPP events taken place in the Juarez-El Paso border. Another area they poured great effort into is the issue of children. The shelters provided education and training for the children, and one of the well-known volunteer programs is the Sembrando Paz Project. In this project, children involved in various educational activities, such as writing a letter to their friends of deportees in the U.S. There are only 27 children when they established the first school, but now, the number is much more significant. The speech by the two officers is really thought-provoking, and they remind us that every little more effort to make more people aware of the migration situations along the border will together exert a great influence. We are humans needed to help humans in need.

Lunch was at The Kentucky Club, a great place to enjoy some typical Mexican food. After a content meal, we set our foot on a walk back to the other side of the border, as the muralist Cimi Alvarado would guide us through some famous educational murals in the city of El Paso and learn the history and meanings behind them. One mural near the Sacred Heart Church, for example, pictures the pastor Rom who was greatly respected by the people of El Paso for his effort to prevent children from being influenced by gangs. One other mural pictures some famous bands with people from local communities, showing the great achievement of the people of El Paso. There is also an app named Augment El Paso in which one will be able to find more information about each mural.

The day has been very informational and heart touching with all the stories of migrants staying in shelters and struggling to achieve a better life. Meanwhile, we are also impressed by how the local people and the government strive to provide benefits to people in need. We look forward to meeting with more people working with migrants to better understand the real situation along the border in the upcoming days.