Written by Anna Pickette

Day 1, June 18th: a group of fifteen students and two teachers got on a flight headed for El Paso, Texas. Our mission was to learn about the realities of the US-Mexico border and to humanize the topic of immigration.
We landed late afternoon in 100 degree weather, excited to start the program. On the way to baggage claim, we were greeted by Chris and Andres, two educators from an immersive travel program known as the World Leadership School. While they had never been to El Paso before, they were well versed in how to promote team bonding and strengthen our experience as a collective.
After successfully retrieving all of our bags, we drove to Murchison Park, which overlooks the Rio Grande Valley and gives a good view of the Texas/Mexico border. It was surreal to see how similar the homes looked on either side of the border, and just how interconnected El Paso was with Mexico.
Home base was the Las Cruces retreat center. When we arrived we met with our group leader Mica, a member of the Border Servant Corps and the coordinator for all of the places we were about to visit.

Day 2, June 19th: we spent the day learning about the history of El Paso at Chamizal National Memorial. There we discovered how the Rio Grande used to dictate the US-Mexico border until a channel was built in 1963. Then, we met our first speaker, Ruben Garcia.
Garcia is one of the founders of Annunciation House, a shelter for asylum seekers. He shed light on harsh truths of immigration none of us had heard before. Ruben put aside politics and spoke to us as adults, with the truth about what was really going on in Texas.
For asylum seekers, in order to make money (and live) they need to be hired illegally. Ruben told us that they are considered “undocumented with permission,” meaning that the government knows that they live in the US and are awaiting their trial dates, but they are not given work papers. However, many of these trial dates are not for years, making it incredibly difficult for them to survive without living on the street or finding jobs that do not check for papers.
Ruben emphasized the importance of factual opinions. Regardless of a person’s political identity, certain policies, specifically the lack of work papers, do not make any sense. At the end of his speech, he shared how throughout his years running the Annunciation House he had adopted six kids! By the end of his speech, we were all shocked at how broken and complicated the immigration system really was, but Ruben’s dedication to trying to help immigrants inspired us.

Day 3, June 20th: we had the opportunity to go to the Federal Court in New Mexico. We witnessed numerous immigration-related trials (21 to be exact) and got firsthand knowledge of how a court runs. The trials were in English, but there was Spanish translation the whole time. Then, we got to talk to a Judge and ask him questions about immigration that he has worked on and his most memorable immigration cases.
Later on in the day we met with an immigration lawyer. Over the years she has handled asylum cases and helped US citizens/residents get their families into the US. She has witnessed a lot of the flaws with the immigration system, so she opened our eyes to the decades of backlog to getting a visa. We also learned about specific immigration cases that stuck with her over the years.

Day 4, June 21st: we met with two Border Patrol officers at the border wall. The officers discussed their jobs and the humanitarian effort of the Border Patrol that is not often discussed in the news. They also talked about making changes at the governmental level. They believe that increasing the amount of visas permitted per year would help with the border crisis and start to give immigrant families a better chance to get into the country. Surprisingly, down in El Paso, most people believe that a lot of aspects of immigration (like the current visa and asylum policies) need to be changed because they are irrational. These laws also make immigration far more complicated than necessary.
Then, we went to the Border Servant Corps’ main facility, where they house asylum seekers for roughly 48 hours and get in contact with sponsors, churches, shelters, etc. They also provide new clothing, toys, and resources for flights and train rides. After a tour of the complex, an ACLU investigative journalist came to speak with us. He provided us with his own bigger picture thoughts on immigration. He explained the system in a more overarching format and he shed light on some of the atrocities in immigration detention facilities and the difficulties of traveling to the US borders from all over the world.

Day 5, June 22nd: we headed to Weaving for Justice, a textile collective in Las Cruces that sells textiles made by Mayan women. We learned about the history of prosecution of Mayan women, and the importance of the collective (one of the only places these women can sell their textiles and receive a fair price). We then went to Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo Cultural Center and learned more about the local tribes. Borders and land disputes between the US and Mexico have gravely impacted them, and in many cases separated them.

Day 6, June 23rd: we spent the morning at Peace Lutheran Church making gorditas, a corn tortilla stuffed with meat and vegetables. Carmen, a Juarez native (a city just across the border in Mexico) and US/Mexico dual citizen, taught us her gorditas secrets as she shared her own immigration story. She shared with us how she risked it all to help her dying daughter get the medical care she needed in the US. It was a heartbreaking yet inspirational story that left everyone in tears.
Then, we headed off to White Sands National Park for sand sledding and debriefing after an emotional day. When we got back on the plane the following morning, we were all left with much to think about. Our trip to El Paso was not what any of us expected, but it was a trip we will remember forever. We have certainly succeeded in our goal; humanizing the topic of immigration, have a better understanding of how the system works, and find ways that we can create change.