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Migrants, many of whom are asylum- seekers sent back to Mexico from the U.S. under Migrant Protection Protocols, line up for a free meal provided by volunteers at a makeshift encampment near the U.S. port of entry at the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, Aug. 24, 2019. (CNS photo/Loren Elliott, Reuters)
Nov. 1, 2019
Terry Sprague from Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame has just returned from a six-day Bay Area Border Relief humanitarian outreach to migrant families and children stranded in Matamoros, Mexico, where she said conditions were “heart-wrenching.”
“Just when you think things at the border can’t get worse, they do,” Sprague said in an email to Catholic San Francisco. “After leaving their homes and enduring a long journey fleeing violence, asylum seekers are turned back from the U.S. to Mexico to await a court date. Families and children have only the clothes on their backs and perhaps a very few things they can carry.”
Many of the migrants lives in a makeshift tent city next to the bridge along the Rio Grande.
“Tents, blankets and supplies are donated but there is never enough, especially as numbers grow,” Sprague said. “Thousands of people including children and their families must share only a few bathrooms and showers which were installed only recently.”
The volunteers saw people washing clothes and bathing in the river.
“So many people without shoes, especially the children,” Sprague said, adding that although volunteers handed out many pairs of shoes, there was not enough for all.
“One young man was wearing a women’s coat, way too small to button and standing in line hoping for shoes,” Sprague said. “His feet were covered in dirt with flip-flops that were falling apart. I have no idea how they even stayed on his feet. He was so cold his teeth were chattering and he was shivering. It’s a sight burned in my memory forever. I thank God that we happened to have a pair of shoes that fit him.”
Sprague said she believes the migrants’ faith gives them strength to endure such terrible circumstances.
“We handed out rosaries and these are treasured by all,” she said. “As a Catholic community, I think it is on us to truly walk in the footsteps of Jesus and do what we can to help.”
Sprague was among 24 Bay Area Border Relief members, including some Bay Area Catholics, from all over the San Francisco Bay Area, who collaborated with Team Brownsville, Mateo 25:35, Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley and a local Matamoros pastor on the Oct. 19-26 mission. They helped prepare and serve four consecutive dinners to the encampment of 1,000-plus residents, with dozens more being returned to Mexico daily from Customs and Border Patrol and/or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
These new arrivals are dropped off with only the clothes on their backs, many with young children in tow, Bay Area Border Relief said an announcement. Volunteers from nonprofits and religious organizations attempt to provide tents and basics, when available, usually transported on foot via wagon over the bridge from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros.
The refugee camp was originally established in summer 2018, initially with 100-200 residents, but has grown significantly since summer 2019. Although Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, agreed to the U.S. government’s Migrant Protection Protocols, once the U.S. threatened tariffs, neither the government of the city of Matamoros nor the state of Tamaulipas are able to provide much assistance, the relief group said.
The policy, also known as “Remain in Mexico,” forces migrants to wait in Mexico until their assigned court dates for their asylum case hearings.
“A wait of multiple months wait is not uncommon,” the relief group said. “All are awaiting court dates and decisions on asylum claims. Many organizations and media have reported that conditions in the camp are deteriorating. Temperatures have ranged from blistering heat to extreme cold and these families with children are terrified to leave the plaza for any other shelter, as Matamoros is known to be a dangerous drug-cartel controlled city, with many kidnappings and a U.S. State Department Level 4 Travel Advisory zone. This is the highest advisory level due to greater likelihood of life-threatening risks.”
The volunteers included University of San Francisco faculty and graduate students from the USF School of Education and Notre Dame de Namur University who are trained and equipped to deal with the stress, trauma and anxiety related to the migrants’ treacherous journeys to this border region.
The volunteer-driven Bay Area Border Relief is comprised of USF faculty and other educators, students, philanthropists, nurses, counselors, community activists, filmmakers, law and human rights advocates and regular citizens. Philanthropic Ventures Foundation acts as the group’s fiscal sponsor and has also sent staff and supported USF graduate student travel expenses to McAllen, Texas.
Visit www.bayareaborderrelief.org