I'm Helping Asylum Seekers at the Texas Border

Today, as I write, I've been asked to bring a car seat to the hospital for a newborn that is being released from our local hospital.

Her Haitian mother arrived in Brownsville, Texas in early labor after a harrowing experience involving a long wait in the river for someone from the Border Patrol to cut the concertina wire.

There were many people in the group from Haiti and Venezuela. They had decided to cross this way after experiencing the trauma of threats, kidnappings, and extortion from cartel members.

This is to say nothing about the horrific trauma experienced in their home countries that drove them to the border.

Mother is happy to have a healthy baby girl, but she is still crying for her husband who has disappeared. We have been calling the ICE and CBP offices, looking for someone with his name. But we just don't know where he is or whether he made it into the U.S.

He was part of the group waiting in the water, but when they finally cut the wire, they took her to the hospital and she never saw him again. The next day she was released after her labor stopped and she has been waiting for word on his whereabouts for two weeks.

Now she's gone through labor and delivery without her husband and has to decide whether to travel to her family without him. I can't imagine having to make this decision.

Over five years ago, some fellow educators and I came together after learning that people were waiting for days on our sweltering bridges into Brownsville, hoping for a chance to request asylum.

We learned that our community was home to shelters for unaccompanied minor children, those who had been separated from their families.

We learned that immigration detention centers in our area were releasing migrants into our community, some of whom had no resources and were sleeping on our streets.

And we learned that we could make a difference in people's lives by gathering resources and volunteers together.

Time has changed many things, but asylum seekers still come, seeking hope and a chance for a new beginning. We have welcomed people from over 50 countries during the past five years.

During the past year, asylum seekers from Venezuela have surged to the top of our list. We've welcomed people from Central and South America as well as those from the Caribbean Islands of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

We've also welcomed people from African nations such as Cameroon, Angola, Senegal, Uganda and Guinea. Finally, we've welcomed people from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

We've welcomed many people from China, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We've also welcomed those from Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia,

Our Brownsville Welcome Center receives people who arrive after being released by CBP or ICE. People also arrive from the Gateway Bridge after their CBPOne appointment. They all receive documents that allow them to travel and proceed with their asylum process.

People are all welcomed with a warm greeting and supplies that will help them as they travel across the United States. They are given a brief orientation and told the importance of safeguarding their documents and going to their first check-in with the U.S. immigration system.

Because of my background as a special educator, I am drawn to families who have children with special needs. I think of "Maria", a 12-year-old suffering from the complications of a seizure disorder.

Maria arrived at the welcome center in a baby stroller, pushed by her mom and supported by her aunt and uncle who traveled with the family. Maria's mom recounted the story of carrying her through the Darien Gap in that stroller.

They used the stroller like a stretcher, up the rocky hills, through forested areas and thick mud.

She was a tall 12-year-old so her legs were bent down in the stroller at a 90-degree angle to accommodate her size. Her mom knew this was not the right kind of seating for her daughter. But she had no other options.

Her home country of Venezuela didn't have special wheelchairs available to families without the means to pay for such an expensive item.

I was in the process of arranging transportation for Maria's family when she became ill with COVID-19. Maria was very vulnerable and ended up in the ICU of our local hospital, placed on a ventilator for several days.

Team Brownsville volunteers visited her in the pediatric ICU and brought needed items to her mom as she stayed by her daughter's side. Finally, she was released from the hospital and we transported her to a hotel and then to her bus the next day.

Our nation is going through an endless cycle of vilifying migrants, pushing them back, and minimizing their ability to enter the United States through legal pathways. The newest bill eliminates safeguards on credible fear standards so that migrants can be returned to their home countries without a hearing.

The right to claim asylum needs to be protected. As a nation, we have to work toward having a humane and dignified system so that people know what to expect in the process.

My biggest fear in this election year is that the asylum system will be decimated to appease the block of voters who see asylum as a threat to their well-being.

If only they could sit with people and hear their stories. If only they could see past the rhetoric to the human lives that are waiting in danger.

If only they could remember the harrowing journeys of their own immigrant ancestors.

Andrea Morris Rudnik is co-founder of Team Brownsville.

All views expressed are the author's own.

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