The following statement was submitted by Grannies Respond/Abuelas Responden.
In the past few months, as families and individuals who are seeking asylum in the United States remain trapped in uncertainty across the border, in Mexico, the result of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy (ironically known, officially, as Migrant Protection Protocols or M.P.P.), needs have risen exponentially for food and supplies, legal assistance, schooling for children, and medical care to support the growing population of those awaiting outcomes of their asylum requests.
Grannies from across the country have responded, traveling to the border to volunteer with the population of asylum seekers who are encamped there, waiting for their cases to be adjudicated.
Now, unfortunately, with the advent of the coronavirus and COVID-19, the health of those seeking asylum, and those dedicated to assisting them, has become of paramount concern, and volunteer organizations have been forced to either halt services for the time being, or to severely curtail them.
Add to that reports that the Mexican government plans to relocate the 2,000 inhabitants of the tent camp to a stadium four miles away and the disturbing news that Trump has, by executive order, suspended the issuance of green cards for 60 days, it is uncertain how volunteers will be able to continue supporting the community.
Below is a personal account and reflections from a New York-based Grannies Respond volunteer who recently traveled to the border to help. We can all find inspiration in her account, as we await an uncertain future.
Grannies from across the country have responded, traveling to the border to volunteer with the population of asylum seekers who are encamped there, waiting for their cases to be adjudicated.
Now, unfortunately, with the advent of the coronavirus and COVID-19, the health of those seeking asylum, and those dedicated to assisting them, has become of paramount concern, and volunteer organizations have been forced to either halt services for the time being, or to severely curtail them.
Add to that reports that the Mexican government plans to relocate the 2,000 inhabitants of the tent camp to a stadium four miles away and the disturbing news that Trump has, by executive order, suspended the issuance of green cards for 60 days, it is uncertain how volunteers will be able to continue supporting the community.
Below is a personal account and reflections from a New York-based Grannies Respond volunteer who recently traveled to the border to help. We can all find inspiration in her account, as we await an uncertain future.
Original Grannie Valerie Carlisle volunteers in Matamoros, Mexico.
Matamoras: Families Are Stuck There Due to the
United States’ Current 'Remain in Mexico' Policy
United States’ Current 'Remain in Mexico' Policy
By Valerie Carlisle
Matamoras. Four quarters in the turnstile and you can walk the bridge to Mexico. Staring through the chain link fence, the Rio Grande doesn’t look so grand at all. It looks like an insignificant river, greenish brown, sluggish and rather narrow. But for the asylum seekers marooned in Matamoros’ tent camps, it’s as wide as the Pacific Ocean, and as difficult and as dangerous to cross. The families are stuck there due to the United States’ current “Remain in Mexico” policy, AKA Migrant Protection Policy, (MPP), a misnomer if there ever was one.
When I announced that I was going to the first day of an ongoing action, “Witness at the Border,” others from Poughkeepsie’s Reunite Migrant Families jumped on board as well. In the end there were five of us who went to witness and volunteer in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico. It was quite a trip. The word, transformative, is about as close as I can call it.
Dropping those four quarters in the turnstile, we walked across a man-made border to a land of tents, of families, of desperation, and of hope. At our first furtive glances, one almost felt like one was at Yogi Bear’s Happy Campgrounds until the crowded tent-upon-tent-upon-tent, tattered tarps and black plastic, concrete and dirt, clothes hanging helter-skelter from lines and fences, and the friendly but very tired faces revealed the desperate situation. Given the same government security threat as visiting Syria, we oddly felt rather safe as the sun shone, but knew we would not want to be here after sunset, when stories of kidnappings, beatings and rape were real.
Over our limited days, we experienced the happy chaos of “La Escuelita de La Banqueta”, a sidewalk school run by volunteers who trucked books and snacks by wagon across the bridge. We shared storytelling, puppets and more with the children asylum seekers. They were just like children everywhere and excited and happy to participate.
Our friends had been generous with our GoFundMe Border fundraiser and we were able to donate supplies and money to the incredible grassroots organizations there: Team Brownsville, Angry Tias and Abuelas, the Sidewalk School and two shelters, the Humanitarian Respite Center and La Posada Providencia. The tents, the dinners, every daily need are all supplied by volunteers and donations with little to no help by either the U.S. or Mexican government.
Most importantly, we witnessed, which is, as Josh Rubin says, “The subversive act of seeing.” We rallied at the foot of the bridge under the unfortunate sign that reads “Welcome to the United States of America,” we sat in the phony asylum tent courts where out of about 11,000 cases, 11 were granted asylum, and we witnessed Matamoros where desperate people hold onto a whisper of hope in desperate conditions.
Not exactly a welcoming scenario, but I can only urge others to go also. Go Witness at the Border. Grannies Respond can help you plan. For information, visit Grannies Respond. Go see, volunteer with meal preparation, engage the children, and support the efforts of the grassroots organizations. It’s not that hard to do, you can do it safely, and I can guarantee that you will not regret your efforts.
You will be transformed.
When I announced that I was going to the first day of an ongoing action, “Witness at the Border,” others from Poughkeepsie’s Reunite Migrant Families jumped on board as well. In the end there were five of us who went to witness and volunteer in Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico. It was quite a trip. The word, transformative, is about as close as I can call it.
Dropping those four quarters in the turnstile, we walked across a man-made border to a land of tents, of families, of desperation, and of hope. At our first furtive glances, one almost felt like one was at Yogi Bear’s Happy Campgrounds until the crowded tent-upon-tent-upon-tent, tattered tarps and black plastic, concrete and dirt, clothes hanging helter-skelter from lines and fences, and the friendly but very tired faces revealed the desperate situation. Given the same government security threat as visiting Syria, we oddly felt rather safe as the sun shone, but knew we would not want to be here after sunset, when stories of kidnappings, beatings and rape were real.
Over our limited days, we experienced the happy chaos of “La Escuelita de La Banqueta”, a sidewalk school run by volunteers who trucked books and snacks by wagon across the bridge. We shared storytelling, puppets and more with the children asylum seekers. They were just like children everywhere and excited and happy to participate.
Our friends had been generous with our GoFundMe Border fundraiser and we were able to donate supplies and money to the incredible grassroots organizations there: Team Brownsville, Angry Tias and Abuelas, the Sidewalk School and two shelters, the Humanitarian Respite Center and La Posada Providencia. The tents, the dinners, every daily need are all supplied by volunteers and donations with little to no help by either the U.S. or Mexican government.
Most importantly, we witnessed, which is, as Josh Rubin says, “The subversive act of seeing.” We rallied at the foot of the bridge under the unfortunate sign that reads “Welcome to the United States of America,” we sat in the phony asylum tent courts where out of about 11,000 cases, 11 were granted asylum, and we witnessed Matamoros where desperate people hold onto a whisper of hope in desperate conditions.
Not exactly a welcoming scenario, but I can only urge others to go also. Go Witness at the Border. Grannies Respond can help you plan. For information, visit Grannies Respond. Go see, volunteer with meal preparation, engage the children, and support the efforts of the grassroots organizations. It’s not that hard to do, you can do it safely, and I can guarantee that you will not regret your efforts.
You will be transformed.
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