The Faces of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

A little boy is holding a toy car. He is proud to show it to me. He could be one of my grandkids. He is beautiful and full of life even in the bleak environment of the camp. He shouldn’t be here; he should be in school. He should be sleeping in a warm bed, not living in a tent. Nearly 60,000 migrants fleeing violence and persecution, including 16,000 children and 500 babies, have been forcibly returned to Northern Mexico to await their asylum court dates. The asylum seekers are suffering even more due to President Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’, which is part of his broad anti-immigrant agenda.

Last week I visited Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, a port of entry to the United States. Matamoros sits in a region the State Department warns Americans not to visit because of violence and crime. About 2,500 migrants, including hundreds of children, live in a crude camp on land that used to be a park but is now dirt and mud. There is no running water; the migrants share water from a tank. If they get sick, and many of them do, they see a doctor in a structure the size of port-a-potty. Clothes are drying on tree branches. Tents are pitched on top of each other and there is a primitive sewage system. I hear people speaking Spanish, but I also hear indigenous languages. It seems unreal — I wish it were. This is a refugee camp — a refugee camp President Trump created.

Tents are squeezed on top of each other.

This is the structure used for medical care.

The migrants share water from this tank. I was told it was a recent addition.

This is the only electricity the migrants have access to. Since they don’t have addresses, the only way they can find out about court appointments is via phone.

I ask myself what produces this type of callousness? How can our President and his Administration be this heartless?

Some colleagues I was with said the Matamoros camp was worse than camps they had seen in war zones. Everything in Matamoros is makeshift and disorganized. Most migrants are on their own. There is no official U.S. government presence and very little official Mexican government presence. Instead, volunteers like Sister Norma Pimentel of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley have taken it upon themselves to help. The limited resources at the camp are provided by asylum seekers themselves and staff of non-governmental organizations.

Just feet away, over a bridge that crosses the Rio Grande River, stand the immigration tent courts. The courts are supposed to serve migrants waiting across the border for their immigration appointments. Let me be clear: these are not brick-and-mortar courts. They are tents and shipping containers. If the migrants manage to get a lawyer, they only have one hour to talk to them. There is no physical judge, they are on a video screen. The environment in these court tents was chaotic. It was loud. There were no translators for Spanish speakers let alone indigenous language speakers.

This is the Rio Grande, the river in between Matamoros and Brownsville.

The bridge that separates Brownsville, Texas from Matamoros, Mexico.

I talked with many people in the camp. They told me harrowing stories of suffering. They escaped violence, and yet our government’s policy is further endangering them.

Again I ask myself, why is our government contributing to this human suffering?

It doesn’t have to be like this. Immigration law allows the Department of Homeland Security Secretary the option to temporarily allow some immigrants to enter the United States if there is an urgent humanitarian reason. This is called parole, and it should be more widely used, especially for those who are fleeing danger or persecution. Those who already have families in the U.S. should be allowed to wait for their court hearings here and not in the unsafe migrant camps. Studies have shown that 97 % of asylum seekers show up to their court hearings when they are represented by an attorney and they are in stable, safe conditions.

I represent a city that has been and continues to be a major destination for asylum seekers. In Chicago, we welcome immigrants and provide the resources they need. This should be a model for cities across the United States. We should end the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy which violates our country’s long standing commitment under both domestic and international law and make the U.S. a welcoming place for refugees again.

It’s been a week since I was in Matamoros and I can still see the little boy’s face. I hope he is still smiling about his toy car. I wanted to put faces to this horrendous policy. I will not forget them. WE must not forget them. The very heart of our nation is at stake.