Mexico

I intended to submit this article reporting on the large groups of migrants that the United States Border Patrol was sending back to Mexico – all along the border – but specifically in Agua Prieta, Sonora, and the increased efforts of the volunteers at the Migrant Resource Centre (CRM for its acronym in Spanish) to assist those migrants. In December, with no advanced notice, Border Patrol began sending migrants – both Mexicans and Central Americans who had crossed to the US in other places – back to Agua Prieta

Last December the United States Border Patrol began sending migrants who had been recently apprehended in the US—both Mexicans and Central Americans—back to Mexico.  The Centro de Recursos para Migrantes (Migrant Resource Center) currently receives 40 to 60 migrants every day.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Healing Our Borders Vigil in Douglas, Arizona.  The vigil remembers the people who have died in the Cochise County desert – where Douglas is located – while attempting to enter the United States.  There are now over 300 crosses representing these lost lives.  Mark Adams, one of the co-founders of the vigil, has said that the spiritual discipline of calling the names of those who have died is one way that we remain hopeful while living and working at the US/Mexican border.

In February of this year, Ernesto and Maria* arrived at the CAME (Centro de Atencion al Migrante Exodos) migrant shelter in Agua Prieta, Sonora. Fleeing extortion and threats of violence from the organized crime groups in southern Mexico’s State of Guerrero, they hoped to present their asylum claim at the U.S. Port of Entry and to live with family members in Indiana while they awaited their asylum hearing.