Border Encounter Trip: Day One

In January, I had the opportunity to travel to El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico for a Border Encounter Trip with two organizations: We Choose Welcome and Abara. But before I get into the trip, I want to share how this trip came about because this was all God’s doing.

I first heard of these trips to the border from the organization Women of Welcome, and if you’ve listened to my podcast, you’ve heard me talk about them before. They do these border trips and invite members of their communities to join them. So, you sign up if you’re interested, and they select a limited number of women to go. I had signed up about three times and wouldn’t get chosen.

I cannot remember how I came across We Choose Welcome, but I assume it was Instagram. I signed up for their newsletter and to receive updates via texts. One of the first text messages I received was to set up a call with their Community Engagement Manager. Brooklyn and I got on a call in mid-December. We talked about me, how I found We Choose Welcome, my podcast, and how I’ve been interested in going on a border trip for some time. She informed me that they were actually going on a trip at the end of January and that there may have been one spot available, although she knew it would be a tight turnaround.

I said to send me the information, and I would discuss it with my husband to see if I could go. Come to find out, I was able to go! Look at God!

The trip was from January 27th until the 31st. Monday and Friday were traveling days, and Tuesday through Thursday were educational. The week before the trip, I had a therapy session and talked to my therapist about the trip. She gave me questions to ask during the informational meeting about emotional safety and also provided me with some tips to ground myself if things get emotional. I’m so thankful for my therapist because things did get emotional during the trip, which I’ll share later, but I was about to use her tips to ground myself.

On Monday night, I arrived at the beautiful Hotel Indigo in Downtown El Paso. I met everyone else for dinner at Mamacita, a restaurant on the first floor of the same building. Everyone was so nice, and it was great meeting Brooklyn in person. She actually got us each a small squishmello to hold and squeeze throughout the trip. My therapist told me to take a small token to help ground myself, so the squishmello was perfect.

Afternoon dinner, I went back to my hotel room and got ready for bed because the next day was day one of the trip, and we were going to get picked up bright and early after breakfast.

Day One - at La Hacienda

Day one was spent at the historic restaurant La Hacienda. For twenty years, it was a restaurant and bar, where people would cross from Mexico for work, grab a beer at the bar, and return home. On this day, we heard from executive director Sami DiPasquale, who introduced Abara, taught us a little bit of history, and discussed migration root causes and Latin American realities.

Who is Abara? According to their Border Encounter Participant Booklet, “Abara is an ever-growing community of peacebuilders gathering across divides. We’re listeners, sojourners, visual artists, contemplative activists, everyday neighbors, and lifelong learners.” They are mainly known for their Border Encounters trips, which they call “listening trips” - inviting students, faith leaders, and those interested in re-humanizing relationships outside the news cycle. And those who are curious enough to see and learn for themselves what actually happens in the borderlands that is not discussed in the media or the news.

Sami started by discussing the 1848 Mexican-American War, which began with the annexation of Texas and ended with the acquisition of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Since we were in Texas, it made sense to start with this history.

He then discussed La Hacienda and its historical significance and impact. Next, we learned about El Paso, whose population is 80% Hispanic. He said to think of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez as one community because that’s how they operate, although those cities are in two different nations. This idea comes from way back when Texas was part of Mexico. Although the war separated the two cities, the community still operates as one.

As I listened to Sami talk, I wrote in my notes, “What a privilege we have to be able to come on this trip to learn, to cross over to Mexico, and to come back.” Little did I know that that privilege would slap me hard in the face the next day and make me so emotional. More on that later.

Global Migration + Latin American Realities

Next, he talked about Global Migration and Latin American Realities. Sami started his talk by saying, “The border is rarely the problem or the solution.” Usually, when there is an influx of migrants coming to the US, it’s part of a bigger problem. For example, in 2022, the US received the most encounters at the southern border from Venezuelans seeking asylum. The estimated number is 188,000 encounters, according to Immigration Forum, which was a 73% increase from 2021. However, this isn’t nearly as much as how many Venezuelans have migrated to neighboring countries like Colombia, which has had 2.8 million Venezuelans migrate since 2018, and Peru, which has 1.6 million Venezuelans. But the question we should be asking when there is an influx of migrants is, why are they fleeing their country? And Venezuela has been in a humanitarian, political, and economic crisis since 2014. Many Venezuelans have said that they would move back if things got better in their country.

*Side note, I wanted to reference the documentary from 2021, ‘A La Calle’ or To The Street, that I saw on Max, about 2 years ago and when I looked it up on Max website, it says it’s not available to watch in my country. Which, is another problem happening currently.*

It makes sense that more Venezuelans would migrate to neighboring countries than to the U.S. because to reach the southern border from Venezuela, migrants have to cross the Darién Gap, which is the most dangerous migration route in the world. Anderson Cooper’s The Whole Story did a special on the Darién Gap, where Nick Paton Walsh traveled through the jungle with other migrants and told their story.

Another example of recent influx of migrants are those coming from Haiti. If you look at what has been happening in the country since the devastating earthquake in 2010 where nearly 220,000 people died and caused a humanitarian crisis. And then in 2021 President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated and soon gang violence spread. People don’t just leave their country in large numbers like we’ve seen just because there is always a deeper issue occurring. And I’m glad that it was talked about in depth and details on this trip.

Next Sami talked about conflicts from all over the world and showed us a picture of The Refugee Highway from the International Association for Refugee. The graphic shows where most refugees are fleeing from and the countries taking in the most refugees from. And guess, which country isn’t in the 10 top countries receiving refugees? Yup, the United States.

Currently, there are 117.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide according to the International Association for Refugees. That means 1 of every 69 persons alive today. Displaced means refugee. Watch this video to learn more about refugees and asylum seekers and why people leave their countries.

Response at the Border

How are those at the border responding to the influx of refugees? Here are a few examples:

• Temporary church migrant shelters

• Engaging local leaders

• Increase collaboration

• Education and exposure to border issues

• Advocacy for reform to immigration law and foreign policy that is human and addresses root cause

There is power in proximity, which I’ve realized that this has helped me stay educated on immigration and refugee issues throughout the years. We should be open to learning about the history of a place, like where refugees come from and what drove them to leave their country. Also, ask if the US had any play in the situation because you’d be surprised as much the US has had its hand in destabilizing Central and Southern American countries.

Abara aims to help people see the human side of these “issues” and the injustices and advocate without dehumanizing. We cannot be on one side and hate the other because this isn’t the way of Jesus. The path of Jesus is getting outside of the ‘narratives’.

One thing that was shared that stood out to me was, “God is at the border, He doesn’t show up when I show up, He’s already there.” Learning about what is happening at the border means learning about how God is moving there. For example, proxmility 75% to 80% of the shelters in Juarez are led by pastors and are non-profits. This isn’t something that is shared enough. Pastors are doing the work.

Historic + Current Border Realities

After lunch we heard from Michael Debruhl who is a Southwest Border Expert. He worked as a border patrol agent himself. We learned that US Border Patrol was created in 1924, making it one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the US and it started in El Paso by holding the first academy. Before it was called the border, it was actually called The Fence and the first fence was created in 1993 and it was 14 miles long in San Diego.

Border Patrol is Customs and Border Protection which enforces immigration laws near the US borders and point of entry. ICE is Immigration and Customs Enforcement which enforces immigration law within the US.

Michael also shared a timeline of the US history of immigration policy from the first immigration bill to when Border Patrol was created. Also shared details of construction of the border wall and how much money has been spent throughout the years. In 2006 the Bush Administration built 548 miles of the border wall and spent 2.3 billion dollars. Obama Administration built 137 miles of the border wall, during Trump’s first administration there was 52 miles of border wall built, and Biden’s Administration built 20 miles.

The CBP One app launched in January of 2023 and it was a legal way to make an appointment for asylum seekers. 91.9K asylum seekers were able to enter the US because of the app. It was also a safe way for aslyum seekers to get to a point of entry because they wouldn’t have to cross through Mexico and potentially come across the cartel. Women didn’t have to pay with their bodies and for those who like to argue about how the border increases human trafficking, having the app helped with that as well. Once the migrant had an appointment scheduled they would fly to the nearest airport of the point of entry.

While we were on the trip, the Trump Administration had removed the app the week prior and 30k appointments were canceled. A lot of those aslyum seekers had been waiting for months for their appointment date to arrive and others had tried multiple times to try to get appointments through the app.

This is from outside of La Hacienda, looking into Mexico.

Immigration Law 101

The last presentation of the day was immigration law 101. It was interesting listening to what was happening in Janaury and seeing the affects in certain areas in real time. But this talk went over the official immigration government websites. The pathways of how people can come to the US. So there are the bonafide family relationships where either citizen petition their parents, citizens petition their siblings, spouses can petition their spouse or fiancé, and once children make it to a certain age they can petition for their parents. The roadblocks with these are financial. The fees to pay to USCIS are thousands of dollars and then there are the attorney fees. There is also a lot of paperwork involved and depending on who is petitioning for who, the wait time can be up to 20 years.

So, let’s say you are trying to flee violence or a humanitarian crisis. Would you wait 20 years for the petition process to be complete? No, you’ll try to find a faster way.

The non-immigration status that people can have while in the US is those who are here on a student visa, tourist visa, or job visa. Oh, I almost forgot: another way people can come to the US is through the diversity lottery visa.

Wrapping Up First Day

After immigration law 101, we had a moment to brief, reflect, journal, and ask questions. And then we went to have dinner.

A few things I want to share: before going on this trip I knew that the asylum-seeking process takes a long time. And the acceptance rate of people’s asylum cases being approved is low. As more and more migrants came to the US seeking asylum, the backlog of cases has grown. There aren’t enough attorneys, immigration judges, and resources to move the cases faster through the system. Our immigration system has been outdated for a long time, and reform has been needed for a while. It’s not as easy as people who aren’t working in immigration like to make it seem.

Going over the history and viewing migration from a global perspective versus just what is happening in the US made me realize that I actually knew more than I thought I did about immigration. I’m intentional about researching, reading books, documentaries, and talking to people about immigration. I’m intentional about staying informed. And this also aligns with the work I’m doing with my podcast. I’m definitely learning a lot on the podcast from talking to people from all over the world, but there are opportunities to educate my audience on certain topics or history they may not know about.

Thank you so much for reading!

Next post will be on Day 2 of this trip.

We were so close to Mexico that my phone and watch kept thinking I was in Mexico throughout the day.

Books on immigration. I’ve read Start with Welcome and interviewed Bri for my podcast. All the other books are on my to-read list.

With Love, Heidy