Help Restore Dignity to Immigrants at the Border

There is an untamed crisis in the Mexican-American border spurred by the number of immigrant families coming into the country escaping violence and lack of opportunity, looking for a better life for their children.  Being the first generation American child of Mexican immigrants,  this is a cause that is dear to our hearts,  so my mother, my brother and I traveled to the border to McAllen Texas to volunteer at a shelter that helps these immigrants.  While working at the Humanitarian Respite Center run by Sister Norma Pimentel of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande, we were able to see how the immigrants’ most basic needs are not being met due to the very high number of families coming in through the shelter each day.  The Humanitarian Respite Center helps undocumented immigrants that have already been processed by Border Patrol, and are in the process of joining their families across the United States.  They arrive in the shelter with no possessions whatsoever, hungry,  sick, without a shower for more than a week,  and many of them with a large GPS ankle bracelet that hurts them constantly.  The shelter seeks to restore their dignity by providing them with clothing, food, medicine, showers, and help in getting bus and plane tickets so they can join their families as they wait for the meeting with a judge that will decide if and when they will be deported. 

During the 5 days we volunteered, we gave out donated clothing to them only to run out of what they needed the most. Distressed mothers and fathers accompanied by babies and young children often waited in line for hours, only to reach the front of the line and find that there were no shoes, no socks, no underwear, and no pants for them or their children.  All the family members desperately needed shoelaces since these are routinely taken by ICE as the families are processed so that they will not hurt themselves.  We worked for 9 or 10-hour shifts with no breaks and still it was impossible to give the families the basic clothing they needed.   

We also helped by serving them food, and the exhausted immigrants' families would stand in line for 2 hours to be served.  Some meals were donated by local groups and churches and at other times, there would be a simple and very watery chicken noodle soup that would run out before everyone had had a chance to eat.  We would try to serve the children the most chicken and veggies we could find in the container, and some adults were given mostly broth that would not help satisfy their hunger.    We gave them whatever had been donated: cut up fruit, sugary cereal and still sometimes this would not be enough.  With donations, we also helped made sandwiches and snack bags so that the families could take them on the long bus rides as they left the respite center to be reunited with their families across the country.  

My brother and I taught the immigrants the English phrases they would need.  We had adults and children of all ages eagerly learning these phrase, studying them and asking us about how to pronounce them correctly.  The children were really eager to learn, and their faces would light up when they asked us if the Statue of Liberty was really big and if the snow was in fact really cold… 

Whereas parents had an innate tension and urgency to help their children after everything they had gone through, the kids were still happy and excited, oblivious of all they had gone through traveling through Mexico and were eager to learn English and start a new life here.  I am sure this persistence will serve them well as they integrate into schools and try to make new friends in the US.  

As a Mexican, I feel an obligation to help my fellow Spanish-speaking Latin Americans, and as a U.S. citizen, I feel the need to promote justice in my country. Political and social activism on this issue is deeply important to me.  Although the motivation and dedication of volunteers are certainly present in the scorching hot McAllen, the necessary and adequate donations for food and clothing are simply insufficient.   

I ask from the bottom of my heart for financial donations through this Go Fund Me I have created to benefit the RGV Humanitarian Respite Center.  With these funds, the Respite Center can buy the necessary items they need to satisfy the families’ most basic needs.  You can also donate items through the Amazon wishlist link as it contains the items that the families need the most.

You can order items from the following Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/JJVAJFS3VIIQ/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1?_encoding=UTF8&type=wishlist&fbclid=IwAR1OUkKPoEA9rZL7keT_PBfUaK0nYP9CdbBdWkKlnXqpDxVA5oH-8mUW1Ow 

Please join me so that we can be of assistance to those fleeing violence and lack of opportunities in their home countries, to actively pursue their own  American Dream.

Thank you so much for your support.