In the heart of El Paso, Texas lies Rescue Mission of El Paso, a local nonprofit that helps house and transport migrants coming through the U.S.-Mexico border. One of those migrants is Maria, a Venezuelan mother of three. She said she emigrated to Chile five years ago due to deteriorating living conditions in her home country. But gang violence and extortion against her and her family in Chile led to her seeking refuge in the United States.
“The road from here was horrible, from Chile to Mexico,” she said. “[Traveling through Mexico is] extremely dangerous because of human trafficking because we have little girls. So we spent all our savings to fly [from Mexico City] to Juarez.”
Maria said that she spent four and a half months in Mexico waiting for her asylum appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But now that she’s here, she looks forward to having a stable place to raise her family.
“All is good. Really, all is good. I can’t complain. Even though we had bad times, sickness, we have been good. We have received medical assistance, clothing, food. They have treated us well. The little time I have been [in the United States] it has been good.”
But long wait times at legal ports of entry cause some migrants to seek other avenues of gaining access to the United States. To the west of El Paso in the border city of Sunland Park, New Mexico, migrants use the terrain of Mount Cristo Rey to get past border agents undetected.
Border Patrol Agent Fidel Baca works out of the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station, and said that his station is one of the busiest in the El Paso Sector.
“We understand the reason why people are coming across, but we are also here for a reason. We took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the immigration laws of the United States, and that’s the job that we’re out here to do,” he said. "But a lot of the time we have to change our hats from that law enforcement hat, to that humanitarian hat. I have to go from that mindset of looking for people to make an arrest, to looking for people because they're in need and I need to rescue them."
Crossing the border can also be extremely dangerous. The International Organization for Migration said that the U.S.-Mexico Border is the deadliest land route in the world for migrants, with 686 deaths and disappearances documented last year.
Sunland Park Fire Chief Danny Medrano said his department responds to a significant number of these migrants in distress, but his small department uses its own funding to meet the challenges of responding to these types of calls, creating a strain on resources.
“I don’t see a whole lot of support from the state or federal government. I have been told by both the state and federal governments to apply for grants to support the federal mission of responding to these calls,” he said. “I don’t have staff or resources to do those kinds of things to be competitive with larger cities. It’s frustrating because the retrofitting of my units to respond to this crisis has been out of my budget.”
Chief Medrano said while the local department is spread thin, he’ll continue to uphold his oath as a first responder, no matter the surrounding circumstances.
“We’re going to treat [people] without bias. We don’t ask their status, we don’t ask what state they’re from. We don’t ask what their favorite football team is. We’re going to treat them to the best of our ability. [By the] same token, if anybody comes over the border, legal or not, we treat them the same way with the same compassion that we do a United States citizen.”
Back at Rescue Mission of El Paso, migrants continued to flow in and out of the shelter on the way to their final destinations. Cuban migrant Laura Rivero said she felt welcome in the U.S. more than any other country she visited.
"We are in this shelter and we thank all those people who donate to the immigrant shelters. Because that is the first help that we receive is in this shelter. That helps us on our path to work, to help our families, which is the objective of all immigrants. Which is to work and become citizens to help our family,” she said.
Laura said in her journey filled with exploitation and extortion, she would never forget the generosity shown to her at the migrant shelter, and that she’s excited to begin a new chapter of her life in the United States.
