A group of doctors from Harvard and Johns Hopkins has urged Congress to investigate the deaths of six migrant children who were held in government custody after crossing the southern border in the past year, warning that “poor conditions” at U.S. facilities are increasing the risk of spreading deadly infectious diseases, especially the flu.

The doctors, who wrote to Congress on Thursday, said autopsy reports show that at least three of the children — ages 2, 6 and 16 — died in part as a result of having the flu, a far higher incidence of such deaths than across the general population. Child flu deaths are rare, the doctors said, and should be preventable.

“Poor conditions at the facilities may be amplifying the spread of influenza and other infectious diseases, increasing health risks to children,” according to the letter, submitted by Harvard pediatrics professor Jonathan Winickoff, Johns Hopkins public health professors Joshua Sharfstein and Paul Spiegel and two of their master’s students, and San Francisco forensic pathologist Judy Melinek. “With so many lives at risk, these issues are worthy of congressional investigation. Another influenza season is around the corner, and there are other types of infectious diseases that pose a threat to detained populations. Timely action is critical.”

The letter, dated Thursday, alleges that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services — which supervises longer-term custody of unaccompanied migrant minors — might not be following best practices in regard to screening, treatment, isolation and prevention of the flu.

Sharfstein said in an interview that with all of the problems at the southern border, “people may be overlooking the risks of outbreaks that are entirely preventable.”

The doctors’ concerns come as the U.S. government has been struggling to deal with a record influx of Central American families and unaccompanied minors at the border, a shift in migration patterns that has at times put incredible stress on the nation’s immigration infrastructure. Children have spent days or even weeks in Border Patrol stations that are not meant for long-term housing, and the crush has meant people have been jammed into cage-like holding pens and even have had to stay in outdoor fenced encampments without access to showers or beds.

U.S. officials have said they are doing their best to care for everyone they take into custody but have acknowledged numerous times that Border Patrol stations are not designed to handle the number of migrants that have been crossing the border in recent months. Even with a downturn in June and July, some facilities are still overcrowded.

Detainees with the flu, including children, “are handled as appropriate depending on the specific circumstances,” a Customs and Border Protection spokesman said. Children who test positive for flu are placed together “as best as possible” to separate them from other children, the spokesman said.

Five Guatemalan children who had been taken into Border Patrol custody died between December and May. At least three of the deaths involved the flu, according to autopsy reports obtained by The Washington Post. A sixth child, a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador with a history of heart problems, died last September after a long illness, administration officials disclosed in May.

Before the recent deaths, it had been 10 years since a child died in Border Patrol custody, officials have said.

Border Patrol facilities had little to no health care resources before the December deaths of Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7, and Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8. DHS officials then deployed Coast Guard medical personnel to border stations and contracted with health care providers.

“CBP has approximately 200 medical personnel engaged along the Southwest border. This is a significant increase from just a few months ago, and a dramatic increase from about 20 medical personnel a year ago,” an agency spokesman said.

The 200 medical personnel include a mix of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, emergency medicine technicians, certified medical assistants and other medical support personnel, the spokesman said.

“Medical personnel on site conduct initial intake interviews to identify health/medical issues as well as more detailed medical assessments on juveniles or persons identified with medical issues,” the spokesman said. “Medical personnel on site are available 24/7 to provide medical diagnosis and treatment, address infectious disease issues, and coordinate referral to and follow up from local health system/emergency rooms.”

The spokesman declined to address whether children are vaccinated for the flu when taken into custody.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, an HHS agency responsible for children who cross the border without a parent or guardian, gives flu vaccines to children when they are transferred from Border Patrol or other agencies, a spokesman said.

Unaccompanied children are supposed to be moved from Border Patrol to ORR within 72 hours under a long-standing court order, but the Trump administration has routinely violated that edict during the migration surge.

The Border Patrol’s internal standards call for individuals and families to be held for no longer than 72 hours in its temporary holding facilities, but that standard also has not been followed. Two of the children who died of the flu had been held by Border Patrol for six days before falling ill.

“The key point is that these problems are created to a certain extent by poor planning,” Sharfstein said.

Sharfstein said the U.S. government should have been prepared for the health concerns that accompany an increase in migration, as numbers steadily rose, especially among migrants from rural areas of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Migrant children are at greater risk of flu because of lower immunization rates, higher rates of other infectious diseases and inadequate access to health care earlier in their lives, the letter said. And detention centers are at higher risk for flu outbreaks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 124 child flu deaths in the United States last flu season, a rate of about one for every 600,000 children, according to the letter.

“While comparisons are difficult for many reasons, this rate of death from influenza appears to be substantially less than the rate in detention facilities, with at least three deaths in as many as 200,000 children detained — many for less than the length of the season,” the letter said.

The doctors outline steps for protecting detained children from the flu, including vaccinating children against the disease when they are taken into custody, aggressive screening for flu symptoms, isolation of symptomatic children, prompt treatment with antiviral medication for children with a positive flu test and prophylactic use of antivirals for people exposed to someone with a positive flu test.

“One important step is obviously for the kids to be moved out as quick as possible,” Sharfstein said. “Just the very fact of living with so many other kids in close quarters creates some level of risk.”

The doctors and public health experts addressed the letter to U.S. Reps. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Conn., and Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chair the appropriations subcommittees overseeing HHS and DHS, respectively. They wrote the letter after reviewing the autopsy reports for four of the six children who died after being taken into Border Patrol custody.

The letter expressed concern that autopsies weren’t performed in two of the deaths and called for an independent forensic review of migrant child deaths.

DeLauro said the letter “is alarming, but unfortunately not surprising, given the way the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security are responding to the crisis on the border.” She vowed more oversight of the agencies.

Author: ROBERT MOORE, THE WASHINGTON POST

Our elected class — federal division — is spending more time arguing about the mess on the border than fixing the mess on the border.

They have been able to solve other problems. The response to Hurricane Harvey was bipartisan and, as these things go, fairly smooth. And even within the gridlocked debates over immigration policy and enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border, lawmakers were able to pass a $4.6 billion aid package as stories of horrible treatment of migrant children and families came to light this spring.

Overall, though, the political class hasn’t had the chops to address the border at all — except as a platform for rhetoric, fundraising and posturing.

If results are the measure, there’s not much to measure.

A devoted observer might get a bellyful of this and become a cynic — or go the other way and try to figure out why the pinheads in Washington, D.C., are doing what they’re doing.

But even a cursory glance at the polling in Texas shows Republican and Democratic voters deeply divided in a way that makes it difficult for the people they elect. If the partisan voters don’t overlap much, their representatives can get into political danger by entertaining certain ideas, or anything that even looks like negotiating, with the other side.

Or so it seems if you look at poll results and then watch how the people in Congress have acted — and not acted — on immigration problems that have compounded for years.

In the most recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, completed last month, 28% of Texas voters said that either border security or immigration is the most important problem facing the country. But look inside the numbers: Among Republicans, 46% put those two problems at the top. Among Democrats, only 7% did.

Those two problems top most important issues facing the state, too, with 37% of voters picking one or the other. But among Democrats, 12% chose border security/immigration (14% chose health care and 13% chose political corruption/leadership); among Republicans, 59% said border security and immigration are problems No. 1 and No. 2.

It goes on like that.

Remember President Donald Trump’s proposal to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico if that country didn’t crack down on migrants bound for the U.S.? Among Democrats, 76% opposed that, and among Republicans, 74% were in favor of it — even though Republicans were split evenly on whether that policy would help or hurt the Texas economy. Would a policy like that curb immigration to the U.S.? While 70% of Republicans said it would be effective, 79% of Democrats said it would not.

It’s not a shocker that Republicans and Democrats disagree. But suppose you were an elected official, one who wanted to find a solution that both your opponents and your supporters could agree upon. Hard to find the overlap, except when children and families are in the center ring.

A year ago, when family separations dominated the news and the administration was trying to squeeze off the stream of asylum seekers on the border, voters weren’t willing to support taking kids away from families — particularly when the government agencies splitting families were unable to say which children had been separated from which adults. Trump backed down, signing an executive order halting those separations.

A year later, the country’s immigration enforcement apparatus faces government reports of terrible conditions where migrants are being detained, and the current policy has forced Mexico to hold asylum seekers in camps that almost make the U.S. facilities look good.

Look at the practice, and look at the political conversation. The first is a gnarly and messy problem, but a solvable one. The second has become a way for each set of elected officials — and the people who would like to become elected officials — to appeal to partisan voters on both sides.

It looks like everyone thinks the political gains come from their opposition to their hated opponents — and not from their ability to attack and solve a complicated and frustrating problem plaguing the U.S. and Mexico, not to mention other countries all over the planet.

The leaders are waiting for their followers to tell them what to do, instead of the other way around. While they wait, they’re playing political games.

Disclosure: The University of Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Author: ROSS RAMSEY – The Texas Tribune

Read related Tribune coverage

• Analysis: Three vying for the presidential nomination — and Texas bragging rights
• Analysis: The family separation crisis peaked more than a year ago. Conditions at the border are still terrible.
• Analysis: Jonathan Stickland and Joe Straus, still sailing in opposite directions

A stone’s throw from the Border Wall, a refuge for reflection and community is taking shape in the form of Casa Carmelita.

Named after Carmelita Torres – a hero of the 1917 Bath Riots – the building sits blocks from the Stanton Street Bridge. According to Zeb Green, a founding member of the space, the building is named to honor the resistance and memory of Torres.

For decades, migrants and day workers crossing from Juarez into El Paso were subjected to toxic chemicals in the form of a forced “delousing” gasoline bath. Men, women, and children were stripped naked and told to stand for inspection. Secret photographs were taken and passed around publicly, even posted at local cantinas.

Torres, who was just 17 years old in 1917, stood up to the callous treatment. Described at the time as “an auburn-haired Amazon,” Torres led 30 women in protest, inspiring others to riot.

Casa Carmelita speaks to her legacy – and the role of women of color in resistance work. “It’s women of color who often bear both the inspiration to resistance and the greatest brunt of oppression,” says Green.

The ultimate vision for Casa Carmelita is “connection.”

The proximity to the Border Wall is something Casa Carmelita grapples with; the wall “stands in contradiction with what we stand for,” says Green. “It is the antithesis of connection.”

Green, who holds a Master’s in Divinity and practices a form of liberation theology, came to El Paso in the wake of the Tornillo camp. Looking to disrupt the detention of children and the treatment of migrants and refugees on the border, he connected with a group called Tornillo: The Occupation.

Now, along with a handful of activists, Green has begun work on Casa Carmelita.

“People see our protests and think we’re only fighting,” said Green. “But this space is about investing in El Paso. It’s about wanting to create and not just tear down.”

Casa Carmelita currently requires some imagination. The walls are peeling, and the rooms are bare.

Remnants of the previous tenant, a bus company, remain. Green and his team of activists are working, in conjunction with their neighbors, to transform the downtrodden building into a space for worship and learning.

There are plans for a multi-religion congregation, with worship led by local and indigenous leadership, and an altar painted to reflect the spiritual needs of the community.

Just past the altar another sacred space is taking shape in the form of a library, with books donated from Green’s personal collection and Houston’s now-defunct Sedation Bookstore.

Known once as Houston’s only anarchist bookstore, Sedation lost their physical space, but their books found a home in Casa Carmelita.

Pointing to the idea of food as medicine, Casa Carmelita will also house an initiative known as Food not Walls. Currently run out of the homes and personal kitchens of leaders, Food not Walls provides home cooked and healthy meals that resonate culturally.

At Casa Carmelita, the group will have access to a full kitchen, a food pantry, and a community dining area. Green is quick to point out that anyone in need is welcome to dine or visit the pantry.

Green’s philosophy is rooted in “listening to the voices of the marginalized and following their lead.”

This way of thinking is clear in how he speaks of the building, showing his own enthusiasm and ideas, but making space to let the community lead. It’s important to Green, and his team, that the building is locally owned and managed.

Casa Carmelita is still under construction, but they hope to open their doors later this year.

‘Justice for Migrants’ is the theme of the 2019 J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Symposium April 11-12 at New Mexico State University.

The symposium will feature panels of experts tackling the subjects dominating national news about the treatment of migrants on our southern border. The event is free and open to the public.

“The goal of this symposium is to reflect on the philosophical values, public narratives and community organizing that go in to the defense and promotion of human rights of immigrants, residents of border communities, DREAMers, asylum seekers and all migrants in Mexico and the US,” said Neil Harvey, NMSU professor and department head of government. “The symposium brings together university researchers, community-based advocates, reporters and students to share their own philosophical perspectives and experiences regarding the promotion of justice for migrants.”

Named for a respected state representative and educator, the J. Paul Taylor Symposium started in 2005 when Taylor suggested strategies for bringing resources of the university to address problems faced by underserved populations in the southwest.

This year’s symposium will be hosted by NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Vice President for Research, Department of Philosophy and Department of Government with generous support from the Guadalupe Institute.

The ‘Justice for Migrants’ event begins with a panel discussion from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11 at Gardiner Hall, Room 230. Panelists include NMSU professors Harvey and Lori Keleher, philosophy professor as well as David Holtby from the Guadalupe Institute in Albuquerque, Camilo Perez Bustillo from the Hope Border Institute in El Paso, Blanca Adriana Ontiveros from the New Mexico Dream Team and Nancy Oretskin from the Southwest Asylum and Migration Institute.

The annual Social Justice Awards reception and keynote address will follow from 6-8 p.m. with remarks from NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Enrico Pontelli, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Luis Cifuentes, Honorable J. Paul Taylor and President of the Guadalupe Institute Michael Keleher.

Harvey will present the Department of Government Social Justice Award to Adrian Aguirre, a local artist and NMSU alumnus, who created a series of portraits of migrant workers he spent a year with called ‘Jornaleros’ meant to help people relate to the migrant experience.

Aguirre, who is a program manager in NMSU’s Innovative Media Research and Extension department, more recently spent time at the border with asylum-seekers creating portraits that address their struggles.

He is in the process of creating a program to teach art making practices to those awaiting asylum at the ports of entry to help them document their experiences and as a way to heal.

For more about his artwork, visit this website.

Audrey Hardman Hartley will present the J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Community Award to Ruben Garcia, executive director of

Annunciation House. Garcia and his dedicated staff and volunteers have worked to serve the people of El Paso and Juarez to find shelter, food and refuge including the increasing number of refugees which have more recently filled Annunciation House’s shelters.

“His commitment to serving refugees, asylum seekers and the most helpless of the poor over the past 40 years is unmatched. Serving the poor comes with a lengthy set of challenges, but Ruben’s commitment has never wavered,” wrote community activist Rose Lucero about Garcia’s in her nomination letter.

“Whether its eight in a given day that may show up at the door step of Annunciation House or 800 that are transported by bus from ICE or Border Patrol, Ruben wants to make sure that each man, woman and child be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. In a situation that seems nearly impossible Ruben Garcia always finds a way to make sure that the most voiceless have a voice and that every person knows that they matter and that they are loved.”

Rocio Melendez Dominguez, attorney for Derechos Humanos Integrales en Accion (Seeking Justice for Deported Migrants and Asylum Seekers) in Ciudad Juarez, will be the keynote speaker.

Day two of the symposium begins from 9-11 a.m. Friday, April 12 in Gardner Hall, Room 230 with a panel discussion about community perspectives from the border.

The panel will include Jeremy Slack, University of Texas at El Paso sociology and anthropology professor, Debbie Nathan, a nationally-known journalist, Fernando Garcia, founder and executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, Johana Bencomo, director of community organizing for New Mexico Communidades en Accion y de Fe also known as NM CAFe, Jorge Rodriguez, Regional Center for Border Rights, American Civil Liberties Union – New Mexico and Deacon Leonel Briseño, Project Oak Tree, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces.

A student poster presentation will be on display at Gardner immediately following the panel from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. followed by a summary and closing discussion at the Nason House, Center for Latin American and Border Studies at 1070 University Ave. A summary of main points and roundtable discussion on next steps will wrap up the symposium with food and refreshments provided.

Author: Minerva Baumann – NMSU

President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it will begin returning more migrants to Mexico after they apply for asylum in the U.S. and ordered Customs and Border Protection officials to speed up the redeployment of agents to help the Border Patrol process a growing surge of migrants arriving at the border.

Last week, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said 750 CBP agents would be pulled from their regular positions at the ports of entry in El Paso, Laredo, Tucson and San Diego to assist Border Patrol. On Monday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen told CBP to accelerate the reallocation and consider reassigning more officers.

“CBP is directed to explore raising that target, is authorized to exceed it, and shall notify the Secretary if reassignments are planned to exceed 2,000 personnel,” the DHS said in a news release.

The announcement is in response to a surge of mostly Central American families and unaccompanied minors crossing the border and seeking asylum. From Oct. 1, when the federal government’s current fiscal year began, through February, about 136,150 family units were apprehended on the southwest border — an increase of about 340% from the same period in fiscal year 2018, when about 31,100 families were apprehended, according to CBP statistics. The largest increase occurred in the El Paso sector, where about 36,300 family units were apprehended — a 1,689% increase from the same period last year, when 2,030 were apprehended.

Nielsen also ordered CBP officials to expand the Migrant Protection Protocols program that began in El Paso last month. Under the program, asylum seekers are required to wait on the other side of the Rio Grande until they are granted hearings before a U.S. immigration judge.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, told reporters that six people had been returned to Mexico under the program Friday. Nielsen has instructed Customs and Border Protection to try to return “hundreds of additional migrants per day.”

“The crisis at our border is worsening, and DHS will do everything in its power to end it,” Nielsen said in a statement.

The move comes after the El Paso sector of the U.S. Border Patrol shuttered a temporary holding facility it erected last month under the Paso Del Norte bridge in downtown El Paso, where hundreds of migrants were held behind razor wire and chain-link fencing and slept in a military-style tent as they waited to be processed. It’s unclear whether the facility will reopen.

Nielsen’s directive comes as the president continues to threaten to close the southern border in retaliation for what he says is Mexico’s unwillingness to stem the flow of migrants traveling through that country. He also announced over the weekend he plans to cut off U.S. aid to the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala unless they take steps to keep their citizens from migrating to the U.S.

The Texas Border Coalition, a group of mayors, county judges and economic development officials from the region, said closing the ports of entry at the border would create an economic crisis.

“President Trump’s threat to close the border would be catastrophic and immediate, not just for border communities but also for the nation as a whole,” said TBC Chairman and Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz. “Closing the border would cause an immediate depression in border state communities and, depending on the duration, a recession in the rest of the country.”

Author:  JULIÁN AGUILAR – The Texas Tribune

When U.S. Border Patrol agents here apprehended more than 300 peoplein two separate instances one day last month, it was unclear how long the record crossings would continue.

That question was partially answered Tuesday after agents in the El Paso sector apprehended more than 400 people in less than 24 hours — part of a trend that’s seen an average of 570 apprehensions a day in the sector over the last month.

The influx has put such a strain on federal detention facilities that the city’s Office of Emergency Management was considering converting a municipal park into a staging ground for about 150 immigrants Tuesday after they were released by federal officials.

Ruben Garcia, the director of the Annunciation House, a local shelter, said they’re usually able to provide housing at one of the organization’s shelter spaces when they’re notified by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and told how many immigrants to expect. If space isn’t available, Garcia and his volunteers search for hotel space to ensure the migrants don’t end up on the streets of El Paso.

Tuesday was a narrow escape — Garcia was able to secure hotel space and the park wasn’t needed. But the incident has led the city council to consider calling a special meeting soon to address the issue.

“We have to have the council give us a little bit more direction in terms of what they want,” city spokesperson Laura Cruz Acosta said. “We need to make sure that we are following the proper policies and procedures as they relate to any actions on expenditures that we spend on something that’s outside of normal operations.”

Of the record apprehensions over the last month, about 90 percent happened in El Paso’s city limits, the Border Patrol said in a statement. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley have also seen a surge in illegal crossings — The (McAllen) Monitor reported that agents apprehended 1,000 people in one day last week — and have started releasing migrants with notices to appear before an immigration judge.

On Wednesday, Garcia said the shelters need more help from the city to prevent immigrants — many of them Central Americans who are seeking asylum in the U.S. — from being released with no place to go. He’s also asking the city to provide volunteers to help the migrants make arrangements to travel beyond El Paso. The volunteers at the Annunciation House are stretched too thin, he said.

“Over the past five months we’re already approaching a million dollars in expense just for the hotels, that’s not sustainable for us,” Garcia said.

Author:  JULIÁN AGUILAR –  The Texas Tribune

On Wednesday, Border Patrol officials announced that 247 migrants were smuggled into the US in the ‘Bootheel’ area of Southern New Mexico, and surrendered to agents.

Details of the incident were released, along with two photos of the large group, via a news release.

According to agents, just after midnight on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, “a large number…turned themselves in to Border Patrol Agents working at Camp Bounds Forward Operating Base at Antelope Wells.”

“The majority of individuals from this group are from Central America with many in the group immediately claiming the need for medical care. The group included family groups with small children as well as unaccompanied juveniles that continue to put their trust and money in smuggling organizations while undertaking the dangerous journey,” officials said.

Border Patrol officials added that since the start of fiscal year 2019, criminal organizations are responsible for at least 24 large groups of migrants that have been crossed in the Lordsburg area.

A large group is defined as a group consisting of 100 or more people that enter together.

The 24 large groups are for that area alone and do not take into account the number of arrests made in other areas within the El Paso Sector.  

The Christmas week surge of migrants released by ICE into El Paso was somewhat to be expected. However, to understand what happened this week, you have to understand the process.

For the last three months, Annunciation House, the non-profit organization that houses migrants after their release from ICE custody as they work their way to their final destination, has seen a record number 2,000 releases a week.

Late on the night of December 22, ICE officials dropped off 211 immigrant families who had passed through custody at a Downtown Greyhound station without notifying Annunciation House, which is the procedure that has been honored in the past by the government.

Currently, asylum-seeking migrants are turning themselves in to Border Patrol in mass numbers. The San Diego Border Patrol sector is still holding a tight line on entries after the highly publicized “migrant caravan” made its way to Tijuana in early December.

In contrast, the El Paso Border Patrol sector has been allowing what they call ‘metered entry’ at local ports of entry.

Typically taking about 60 asylum seeking migrants into processing per day. Other migrants will turn themselves in to Border Patrol in desolate areas where ports are not accessible for hundreds of miles.

Once in custody, adults are vetted to ensure they have no prior removal orders from the U.S. Government, and have no known criminal ties to gangs in Central America. Those who are suspect because of tattoos or other markings are separated from the asylum-seekers and kept in long term detention at area prisons, jails or Border Patrol custody.

Single men are also separated and detained in this manner.

Those who are entering with children, whether they are men or women, are allowed to be released into the custody of a “sponsor” after they are fitted with ankle monitors. The sponsors are everywhere in the country and are typically family members or close friends.

On one recent visit to an Annunciation House shelter, the Herald Post met with Honduran and Guatemalan families who were heading to Nebraska, South Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, and other locations across Texas.

Typically, the asylum seekers are held in ICE detention for a maximum 72-hour period before being released to a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO); in El Paso, that’s Annunciation House. In recent weeks, the population has surged in ICE detention centers and migrants are now being held anywhere between 4-8 days.

In the case of Felix Alonzo-Gomez, the 8-year-old Guatemalan child who died in ICE custody Christmas Eve in Alamogordo, the El Paso-area detention centers were so overpopulated that his family was moved to a Border Patrol Station outside of Alamogordo, NM.

Once released by ICE, the migrants are housed anywhere from 24-48 hours by Annunciation House in El Paso while their sponsors can secure bus or plane tickets to get them to their final destination. Once there, they will check in with a local office and await court proceedings. It acts as a sort of an underground railroad through the Sun City.

The hospitality sites are known to many, but revealed by few. Safety is a top concern to Annunciation House and their volunteers.

What became apparent in El Paso this week is the overwhelming number coming in to seek asylum is overwhelming ICE at their detention facilities and local NGO partners like Annunciation House, who are struggling to get migrants on to their final location before more are released the following day.

Ruben Garcia with Annunciation House said they received 522 migrants on December 26, an all-time record number for the center in his 40-plus year history with the organization. Thursday, Annunciation House received an additional 322.

In a statement to the El Paso Herald Post, ICE blamed inaction by Congress and attempts to stay in compliance with federal laws for detaining families as a reason for this sudden action.

“After decades of inaction by Congress, the government remains severely constrained in its ability to detain and promptly remove families with no legal basis to remain in the U.S. To mitigate the risk of holding family units past the timeframe allotted to the government, ICE has curtailed reviews of post-release plans from families apprehended at the southwest border. ICE is redoubling its efforts to work with local and state officials and NGO partners in the area so they are prepared to provide assistance with transportation and other services,” the statement read.

Congresswoman-elect Veronica Escobar has been in contact with ICE officials, including several phone calls on Christmas Eve to help coordinate transfers from ICE into Annunciation House custody. In the past, she said ICE worked to locate additional emergency detention space in order for NGOs to have room for the released family units. That practice is no longer an option, ICE told her.

As a result, more than 1,600 migrants have been released into the streets of El Paso since Sunday afternoon, with more expected in the coming days. Annunciation House has activated 15 hospitality sites including four hotels in El Paso and an additional 5 hospitality sites in Las Cruces, according to Garcia.

In an effort to mitigate the high population in detention holding cells by ICE, Garcia is working to increase capacity to 3,000 per week in El Paso. The increase represents a 50% increase in population housed by Annunciation House in the El Paso area.

During one of this week’s massive releases of migrants in Downtown El Paso, the Herald Post encountered many children who were battling colds or fevers. One child had pink-eye. Organizers on the ground tell us they have been seeing an increase in these sorts of illnesses when migrants are being released.

Most of the children had been in ICE custody for over a week before coming down with illnesses. Annunciation House is working with volunteer nurses and doctors to provide basic medical care and screening at each hospitality site.

Annunciation House operates 100% off of donations and is not funded by any government funding. Anyone wishing to make financial donations is asked to do so on their website.

At this time, Annunciation House is asking local organizations or church groups who are able to volunteer as a group to feed migrants at one of their hospitality sites contact them at refugees@annunciationhouse.org.

According to Herald Post Reporter Andra Litton, shortly after 2 p.m. Monday Afternoon, Immigration and Customs Enforcement dropped off an unknown number of migrants at the Downtown El Paso Greyhound Bus Station.

Officials with Annunciation House had expected another 200 migrants tonight, however the group dropped off at the bus station was not included in that total.

For those residents wishing to help,  Annunciation House, has been the organization at the forefront of helping the migrants, with shelter, food and assistance in getting to their final destination. To donate, visit their website 

Reporter Andra Litton spoke with Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Dylan Corbett w/Hope Border Institute in Downtown El Paso

**This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available**  PREVIOUS STORIES BELOW 

**story update from 1:35p

Via a Facebook post Monday afternoon, Ruben Garcia with Annunciation House, updated the community on the migrant situation and what types of specific donations are needed at this time.

Annunciation House—and our network of partner organizations and volunteers—is providing hospitality to the 200+ refugees who were dropped off by ICE last night at the Greyhound Station with no advanced notice. This is in addition to our ongoing work with planned refugee releases. Annunciation House has been very grateful for the community’s rapid response in meeting the urgent needs of this vulnerable population. Here are some of the ways you can help:

-Financial Donations: these allow us the most flexibility in meeting the diverse needs of our guests. We use financial donations to pay for the motels we are renting out to provide overflow shelter. We buy extra food when donations falter. We buy cleaning supplies and gas for our vehicles. We buy prescriptions for our guests and respond to urgent medical needs. Please consider donating at https://annunciationhouse.org/financial-donations/

-Clothing: WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING DONATIONS OF USED CLOTHING. While we appreciate your generosity, we simply do not have the space or person-power to receive, sort, and store used clothing donations. They will not be accepted. We ask that you please respect our wishes and direct your used clothing donations elsewhere. If we ever start to run low on these donations, Annunciation House *directly* will put out a call to the community

-Donations: We are accepting donations of NEW underwear, bras, and socks in sizes small & medium for men, women, and children. We are also accepting donations of boxes of fresh fruit, especially apples, tangerines/oranges, and bananas. These can be brought from 8am-8pm to 1003 E San Antonio Ave, El Paso, TX 79901

-Meals: We need organized groups (usually church groups) willing to bring prepared meals to our various houses of hospitality to feed groups of 50-100 refugees. If you are a member of such a group that is interested, please email us with some basic information about your group and your availability at refugees@annunciationhouse.org

-Volunteers: We are in need of volunteers, especially those willing to drive folks to the bus station and airport. If you are already volunteering, please contact your usual point of contact to inquire if additional help is needed. If you are not currently volunteering with us, please email us so that we can do a basic screening process: refugees@annunciationhouse.org. Please have patience with us in trying to respond as quickly as possibly and please understand that volunteers who show up unannounced will generally not be accepted.

Thank you again so much for your generosity and willingness to Welcome the Stranger, especially during this holiday season.

***story from 1030a

More than 200 migrants claiming asylum were dropped off at El Paso’s Downtown Greyhound station just after 8 p.m. Sunday night by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The move came as a shock to local immigrant advocacy groups who were not notified ahead of time that a need for shelter for that many people was needed.

KFOX-TV was the first to report the unexpected surge at the local Greyhound on the corner of Overland and Santa Fe Streets late Sunday evening.

Within an hour, El Paso Police had been called in to help control the crowd and local El Pasoans arrived with food, water and supplies for the migrants. The migrants were all from South America, most from Guatemala and Honduras. All of the adult migrants were traveling with children and most said they hadn’t eaten all day when ICE released them in Downtown El Paso.

Typically, ICE coordinates with local non-profit Annunciation House to secure the beds needed before releasing migrants. Sunday, however, Ruben Garcia with Annunciation House was notified that a need for 300 beds was needed. Garcia said he only had space for 200 migrants at their existing facilities due to the slowed holiday Greyhound bus schedules. As a result, Garcia welcomed the 200 migrants earlier in the afternoon to Annunciation House shelter locations throughout the city.

It wasn’t until 8 p.m. that Garcia and other local organizations were notified of the additional 211 migrants who had been left in Downtown. The large drop off forced immigration advocates and county leaders to spring into action to secure housing for the group.

Garcia, along with the El Paso City County Office of Emergency Management, County Judge Ruben Vogt and Dylan Corbett with the Hope Border Institute had five Sun Metro buses brought to the Greyhound Station to keep the migrants, many of whom were small children, warm while they attempted to secure a long-term shelter for them.

By 1 a.m. the Downtown group had been sent to two emergency locations in El Paso where Garcia says they’re expected to stay for at least two days. Migrants who are released by ICE in El Paso have sponsors, usually family or friends, in other parts of the country who will purchase bus or plane tickets to get them to their final destination within a day.

Due to the holiday bus schedules, Greyhound was booked through Christmas. The longer bus wait times means more migrants will be forced to stay in El Paso at the emergency shelters for the next two days according to Garcia.

A recent surge of asylum claims at the El Paso Ports of Entry are creating a strain on local non-profits working to assist the migrants as they travel through El Paso. Garcia previously told the El Paso Herald Post that more than 2,000 migrants a week were being processed by Annunciation House in the last two months.

Garcia told the Herald Post that in total, more than 400 migrants were released by ICE on December 23 alone. All were expected to need shelter for several days.

An attempt to reach ICE for public comment late Sunday night was unsuccessful after an auto-reply e-mail was sent stating that the public information officers were on furlough due to the government shut down and could not be reached for comment until the government reopens.

Congresswoman-elect Veronica Escobar and Congressman Beto O’Rourke along with Ruben Garcia are expected to meet with officials from ICE Monday afternoon to determine what caused the unexpected release of migrants.

If you would like to donate food to the emergency shelter sites, please contact Annunciation House at (915) 545-4509 or the Borderland Rainbow Center at (915) 263-4623. Volunteers who speak Spanish and are able to help at the sites are also needed and can be coordinated through the two contacts listed above.

For those residents wishing to help,  Annunciation House, has been the organization at the forefront of helping the migrants, with shelter, food and assistance in getting to their final destination. To donate, visit their website 

It might seem an odd conversation piece, but Carlos Marentes keeps a bag of dried Chinese chili in a box behind his desk.

Marentes, founder and director of the Border Farm Workers Center, discovered the chili in a place where, he says, it should not belong.

“That chili was being sold right here, in El Paso, Texas,” Marentes said, “and that seems like something insignificant, but it’s not.”
Some of the best chili on the market grows right in El Paso’s own backyard.

“Here, we have the most important chili production in the world,” he said.  Why, then, would local markets stock cheap chili from the other side of the globe?

The question seems simple enough. But the answer, says Marentes, is far more complex. “There’s something that has to be noticed here about how agriculture works,” he noted.

In his view, the answer is a broken value system, one which links consumerism and commercial agriculture into an exploitative relationship with the sources of our food—namely, the land and the people who work it.

“We are talking about food here,” Marentes said. “The food that we’re supposed to give to our bodies, to strengthen our identities, even our beliefs—our religious beliefs, our cultural beliefs, our history—and losing that is the danger of leaving our food system in the hands of corporations that continue to disregard environmental issues and human rights.”

The Frontlines of Ag

Marentes began working with agricultural workers here in 1980 and founded the Border Farm Workers Center with a group of friends in February 1995. For nearly 40 years he’s been on the frontlines, advocating for fair treatment of farm workers in a system which he says is built from the ground up on their oppression.

At a given time, between 5,000-12,000 farm workers labor in the region surrounding El Paso, Marentes said. Additionally, numerous workers stop by the center on their way to other agricultural sectors throughout the U.S.

Many of these laborers, by virtue of being migrants, find themselves in vulnerable positions. They travel long distances with little support and arrive in a country where many are openly hostile toward their presence. Those who remain in the area to be close to family find themselves in a labor-surplus market, which keeps their wages low and situation precarious.

“Mexico is the largest labor reserve for the United States,” Marentes said. “Here, if you don’t work, there are all these people behind you ready to work.”

The center exists to support farm workers in any way possible, Marentes said, whether it’s providing a cup of coffee, a place of rest or education.

“A very important part of the work we do here is to make the workers understand the nature of the industry that they’re involved in,” he said, “so the workers can realize the importance of their contribution, and so they demand to be part of the prosperity created by agriculture.”

‘The disposable people’

Marentes maintains farm workers are exploited because they’re viewed as a specific group within agriculture’s economic system.
Between 3 million-4 million people work in U.S. farms, he said, and eight of 10 are from Mexico, while many more are from Central America.

Since most farm workers are from other countries, “America expects that they work, then return back home,” Marentes said.
For that reason, society tries to justify paying them lower wages than those standard for other workers within the economy, he said.

Meanwhile, the USDA estimated agriculture, food, and related industries contributed $992 billion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, a 5.5-percent share. The output of America’s farms contributed $136.7 billion of this sum—about 1 percent of GDP.

With so much wealth created, Marentes questions the ease with which society relegates the men and women working the land to marginal living and working conditions.

“These are not unemployed people,” he said. “These are farm workers. They work very hard. But they have to seek shelter to spend the night, to rest, to take a shower or have a cup of coffee. These are the only group of workers doing that.

“The rest of the workers have a place—even if it’s a modest place, a modest roof over their heads—to spend the night, to be with their families.”

In 2014, Marentes was invited to meet Pope Francis, who described society’s view of farm workers in a way that, to him, hit the nail on the head.

“Pope Francis gave farm workers a designation,” Marentes said. “‘They are ‘the disposable people.’”

The environmental cost

The concept of disposability applies not only to those working the land, Marentes said, but also to the land itself.

“The most terrible changes happening in climate and the environment have to do with the model of agriculture, the model of production that doesn’t care for nature, that doesn’t even pay for the destruction of nature,” he said.

Disregard for the environment is no small matter, Marentes noted, as the effects are visible in the mass die-off of species, in the poor health of most Americans, in air pollution and low-quality food and ecosystem degradation.

“Nature plays a major role in every aspect of production—the rivers, air, everything,” he said. “And the corporations use it, and they don’t even have to pay for that. It’s like unpaid labor. They damage a river and then when they no longer are able to make profit, they move someplace else. They leave the damage to the community.

“It’s important to challenge all these elements of production that damage nature,” he added, “because we live here.”

Oppression-free Food

To that end, Marentes has begun advocating for more widespread consumer understanding of the role their choices play in the system. Harkening back to the 1960s and 70s, when Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring helped spark a movement for the idea of chemical-free food, Marentes and his colleagues hope to again thrust consumer responsibility into the limelight.

“We have come up with this concept of oppression-free food,” he said. “The idea is to put into the minds of consumers the need to buy, to eat, to choose food that does not cause oppression to human beings or to nature.”

With this in mind, he hopes everyday Americans can help spearhead a shift away from large-scale industrial agriculture to smaller family farms.

“If you’re a small farmer, you will protect your piece of land, because it’s very important,” Marentes said. “It’s what gives you the capacity to live.”

In this respect, buying a bag of Chinese chili versus the same grown ethically and locally makes all the difference in the world, Marentes said.

“There’s a connection—food, workers, land, water. I don’t get tired of telling everybody that food is our direct connection to nature.”

***

Editor’s Note: Green in the Desert is a new column exploring sustainability and conservation efforts in the El Paso/Juarez area.  Previous Columns can be read HERE.

Writer Chilton Tippin works for Wondor and is pursuing an MA in Latin American and Border studies at UTEP. He likes to write, bike, ski, climb and explore. In 2015, he walked across America.

On Jan. 28, 1948, a DC-3 airplane carrying 28 Mexican migrant farmworkers, three crew members and an immigration officer exploded after the plane’s right wing broke off over Los Gatos Canyon in California’s central San Joaquin Valley.

Author:  Laura L. Acosta – UTEP Communications

TUCSON, Ariz. – The U.S. Border Patrol purposely drives migrants into remote desert areas, causing hundreds to get lost and disappear in 2015. That’s one finding in a new report by two Tucson-based immigrants’ rights groups.

Researchers combed through reports made to the Missing Migrant Hotline of the group La Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, or Human Rights Coalition. They also surveyed dozens of people deported from Arizona to Nogales, Mexico.

Geoffrey Boyce, with the group No More Deaths, which coauthored the report with La Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, said they found 460 cases of people who vanished last year alone, most while crossing the Sonoran Desert, the Arizona Uplands or the brushlands of South Texas.

“Oftentimes, what we see are small groups of agents encountering large groups of people and essentially, scattering the groups,” he said. “Folks disappear into remote mountains and canyons and are never heard from again.”

The report estimates that 8,600 people have died trying to cross the borderlands from Mexico into the United States since the 1990s. The Border Patrol said it will have apprehended 400,000 people in fiscal year 2016, the lowest level since the early 1970s.

Boyce said the “chase and scatter” tactics are part of a “prevention through deterrence” strategy put into place with Operation Gatekeeper in 1994.

“It expressly stated their intention to push crossing out into these remote and hostile areas, to use it as a barrier to unlawful crossings,” he explained. “This is pushing people out further into harm’s way.”

The report concluded that there is no safe way to catch people trying to cross in remote areas. The groups are calling on Congress to rewrite immigration policy to make it more humane, and to work to alleviate the violence and poverty that motivate people to try to emigrate to the U.S.

Suzanne Potter, Public News Service – AZ

Border security and immigration aren’t just issues in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They are topics being addressed and discussed in countries around the globe.

Gabriella E. Sanchez, Ph.D., assistant professor of security studies at The University of Texas El Paso’s National Security Studies Institute, is an anthropologist who studies the social organization of human smuggling groups. Her research looks at “coyotes,” the men and women who, for a fee, facilitate the transit of migrants and refugees across borders while attempting to avoid law enforcement detection.

Sanchez has conducted fieldwork in Mexico, North Africa, the Middle East and Australia, where she has learned that the conditions that lead to smuggling activity are similar everywhere. However, socio-cultural and geographic characteristics unique to each region shape the dynamics of the markets.

“I have been fortunate to travel to locations where I can spend time working with migrants, refugees and smugglers themselves,” Sanchez said. Despite the many challenges of the market and its potential for violence, among migrants and refugees in transit “there’s a great sense of community, support and solidarity” which she credits for the success of her research.

Sanchez’s work has been supported by federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of State, and has informed smuggling research and policy.

“Dr. Sanchez’s research and expertise into the organizational dynamics of smugglers is groundbreaking and unmatched by anyone in the United States,” said Victor M. Manjarrez Jr., project director for UTEP’s Center for Law and Human Behavior. “We are fortunate to have someone such as Dr. Sanchez at UTEP conducting research into an area rarely studied.”

Sanchez is a regular contributor to academic blogs and online magazines, and her work has appeared in multiple edited volumes and academic journals. Last year, her book “Border Crossings and Human Smuggling” was a finalist for the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime’s Annual Prize for organized crime research.

Her work on women’s roles as facilitators of human smuggling, published in 2016 in the journal Geopolitics, described women’s roles as coyotes in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the main U.S. hubs for irregular migration.

“While frequently overlooked within the mainstream rhetoric of smuggling dominated by male-centered narratives of exploitation, victimization and violence, women play fundamental roles in the facilitation of irregular migration,” Sanchez explained. “[Women] recruit customers, negotiate fees and payment plans; withdraw smuggling payments from banks and wire transfer stores, care for migrants and drive or guide groups of border-crossers through the desert.”

In April 2016, Sanchez organized a groundbreaking event at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, in collaboration with Luigi Achilli, Ph.D., from the institute’s Migration Policy Centre, and with the support of UTEP’s Office of Research and Sponsored Projects and the National Security Studies Institute. The top scholars on smuggling worldwide attended the event and explored the ways in which the smuggling business has evolved and adapted in Europe, Africa, the Americas, the Middle East and the Pacific.

“The smuggling market is always changing,” Sanchez said. “Some policymakers often claim smugglers are becoming more sophisticated, or that they have acquired more technology and see that as a synonym of their progress. I myself dislike the use of the word ‘sophistication’ because I think it professionalizes the activities of the smugglers who exploit and abuse migrants and refugees. Yet our collective research reflects that some smugglers are indeed quite effective at what they do, but that the smuggling market and its conditions have created room for exploitive, violent practices that have a negative impact on human life. ”

One way the smuggling market is changing has to do with advances in technology. Sanchez explained that with smartphones, people don’t always need a smuggler because they can use apps to lead them across most terrains.

“We’re witnessing this in Europe,” Sanchez said. “Smugglers only perform certain, very specific tasks along the trail, like the provision of the boats.”

Currently Sanchez is developing work outlining the kinds and the nature of the contacts that exist between drug and human smuggling organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“It is not enough to say these contacts exist,” Sanchez said. “We need nuanced knowledge of the dimensions of these encounters if we want to be able to devise effective enforcement responses.”

Author:  Leonard Martinez – UTEP Communications