When our team arrived in Tijuana, we could not know what we would experience in the days ahead.  Would the border be open or closed?  Would we need to use our violence de-escalation methods to help protect migrants?  How could we be most helpful to the most vulnerable persons at the border?  We discovered that while Tijuana can be a very dangerous place, our day to day experience was, on the surface, quite ordinary.  Tijuana is like many cities of its size.  And fairly safe if you are traveling in a group, have reliable shelter, have access to money and transportation, and know who to approach for help.  We had those advantages, most do not.  Through our orientation with Al Otro Lado and our first-hand experience at El Chaparral and Al Otro Lado, we became aware of the obstacles to even reaching the port of entry and we began to feel apprehensive for these ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.   In our work with Al Otro Lado, we came to learn the importance and power of being a friendly presence, a link to trustworthy assistance, and witnesses to the ways the asylum process, at one of the world's busiest points of entry, is not accessible, is not equitable, and is not just for the vast majority of men, women, and children who seek to make their claims for asylum. 

Sunday February 17:  Friendship Bi-national Park, La Playa

We had an opportunity to view the artwork, community garden, and sculptures that community members had created on and along the wall.  It was remarkable to see this symbol of bi-national friendship, the expressions of love, humanity, and interconnection throughout Friendship Park now a challenge and resistance to the rusted iron barrier that scars the sandy outcropping into the ocean there.  Constructed in 1971 during the Nixon administration, the park was originally a symbol of cross-national friendship.  And in fact, the park only had a short barbed wire fence until 1994, when residents of both countries could easily meet on the border under the supervision of US border patrol.  Even after September 11, 2001, it was possible to meet and pass things across the fence.  That changed in 2009, when the Department of Homeland Security closed down the park and constructed a second parallel fence and later a third 20 foot wall of bars was built that stands today.  Friendship Park reopened in 2012 with the mesh fence that only allows people to touch fingers with loved ones on the other side. (“Friendship Park,” Wikipedia).  We gathered at a little coffee place near the beach run by Border Angels, the café is a fundraiser and educational center for the human rights group that advocates for and educates people about the dangers faced by migrants as they cross the desert, dropping off water along migrant routes and educating about the history of US/ Mexico border policy as well as providing legal advice.  One of the café staff shared with our group their experiences along the border and their efforts to continue their work despite border patrol interference with their humanitarian work.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Our previous day’s orientation gave us context for what the travelers could face, but could not prepare us for understanding the confusing and changing numbers process and distinguishing newcomers from more seasoned migrants and the different immigration authorities and police always present in the plaza.  Picture an ordinary transportation plaza, where taxis idle for incoming train or bus passengers. No buses or trains here, just people walking along the pedway between the old and new point of entry or migrants who hope to cross in the near future.  The most confusing part on this first day was figuring out the numbers process as it unfolded in real time and figuring out when and how we could help.  We looked for subtle signs that people may be confused or we approached male members of family groups to find out if they had heard about Al Otro Lado and their services yet.  Other members of our team with stronger Spanish skills observed and documented the numbers process and the various efforts to obstruct the process.  At some undetermined point, we would begin to hear voices from a megaphone calling out names.  And then quickly, volunteers would hurry to the sidewalk to help those boarding the buses quickly shift their warmest layer to be next to their skin or to add a warm donated layer close to their bodies.    

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Our second day, we felt like “old hands” at El Chaparrel.  We could now identify the police standing along the concrete wall in the sunshine and the Grupos Beta overseeing the numbers process.  We were also more confident greeting people and introducing ourselves before asking them about the flier.  There were fewer migrants on the plaza that day, one of coldest during the week.  We could feel the cold radiate from the concrete and it reminded us of the cold these migrants would face, with fewer layers than ours, in the detention cells.  It was not unusual for the procedures to change without notice.  Later that morning we discouraged away from the sidewalk and had greater difficulty connecting with migrants to help them into warm clothing before they boarded buses.  

Friday, February 22, 2019

This was my final day directing migrants to the Al Otro Lado entrance.  I had an opportunity to assist several families and individuals and I had the opportunity to meet and learn more about the San Diego community who are part of the larger network to provide services and assistance to asylum seekers in the region.  One of the volunteers was from the San  Diego based Rapid Response Network, which helps migrants with transportation and housing once they cross the border into the United States.  Throughout the week, we were happy to discover that a Meta Peace Team presence in Tijuana would be an important complement to an array of humanitarian groups assisting on either side of the border.  

What Do You Need to Know?

Coming back after this trip, we will all try to convey to you - collectively and individually - what we witnessed first-hand....and we'll do our best.  But there is so much...We can only pray to do it justice.

To those of you who helped support this trip, we can't thank you enough.  Your prayers and donations now allow us to share the truth that can only come from "seeing it for yourself".   That is invaluable.

So, if you only have a short time to read, what is most important for you to know?

Those seeking legal asylum in the United States are waiting at the border, with nowhere to sleep or eat.  Local Mexican churches and organizations are doing their best to provide housing and meals.  Everyone we met was cold, tired, hungry, and anxious.  Many had nowhere to sleep.  While we were there, the nighttime temperatures dropped into the 30's.  Some days it absolutely poured rain.  We were drenched and cold - and we had a place to stay!  Many people - if not most - needed medical care to treat the illnesses inherent to living on the streets, some of whom had done so for months while they journeyed north. 

Readers may want to see pictures of these immigrants, but to protect them, we can't show you their faces.  What did they look like?  Like your 3rd grade teacher.  Like the little boy next door playing with his dog.  Like the lady in the checkout line at the grocery.  Like your grandmother.  Like your baby.  Like us. 

The majority of the people seeking asylum came as families: parents, grandparents, children, and babies.  They were doing everything in their power to get across the border to safety - legally - through the myriad of hurdles our government has created.  And a good number of these hurdles are illegal and wholly unconstitutional according to our own laws.

Many of the immigrants we met were from Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, but there were also large contingencies of asylum seekers that came from Haiti, Cameroon, and Russia. 

The treatment that the immigrants receive after their number is called ("Report from El Chaparral" ) can honestly be likened to a form of torture.  It is heartbreaking to watch parents, after finally hearing their number called in the open square, scramble for permanent markers to write their contact information on their children's arms.  They know they will be separated from each other by our system.  They are doing the only thing they can to ensure that they may see their children again.  Who knows it these temporary tattoos will work to do that?

Because those called are only allowed to keep the layer of clothing closest to their skin, volunteers scramble to help them change into warmer clothes at their base before they are loaded unto a bus.  These clothing donations are needed to fend off the frigid boxes they will be "stored" in while they await their interviews to determine if their situation is dire enough to qualify for more hearings within the United States boundaries.  These ice boxes have already been well-documented.

The border wall itself is a conglomerate of corrugated steel, concertina wire, concrete, floodlights, "no man's land" barren zones traveled by armed border patrols, and amalgamations of all of these put together.  Although it may happen, the entire time we were there we never saw anyone attempt to thwart these barriers.  To build a higher wall would be ridiculous, but from all the construction equipment we saw, they are adding to it constantly.

We also saw beauty:  Wonderful people, just like you and me, hoping only for a safe, stable life.  Grateful for the tiniest of kindnesses. Appreciative smiles when
you commented on how beautiful their children were, or helped them with paperwork, or escorted them to the doctor for free medical care.

We partnered with amazing people as well.  Al Otro Lado has created a system of support that allows volunteers to assist for as little as a day and as long as...well... indefinitely.  This network of non-hierarchical volunteers works tirelessly to help those seeking asylum get their most basic needs met, offering medical care, legal consultations, simple meals, and perhaps most importantly, the warmth, dignity and respect that are due all human beings.

We also partnered with Unified U.S. Deported Veterans and Veterans for Peace: see  "Thank You For Your Service, Now Get Out of My Country".  

So what is it most important for you to know?
That there is injustice and cruelty at our doorstep.  That our tax dollars are paying for it.  And there are wonderful people trying to dismantle that cruelty and injustice.  You all helped us be a part of that, and we are most grateful.

But our work here has just begun.

MPT's Winter 2019 Border Team

Team Members (L-R): Mary Hanna, Amy Schneidhorst, Pat Thornburg,
Kim Redigan, Kathleen Hernandez, and Linda Sartor

Thank You For Your Service, Now Get Out of My Country

The MPT Border Team was invited to join Unified U.S. Deported Veterans and Veterans for Peace at a powerful event, “Thank You For Your Service, Now Get Out of My Country” held at Enclave Carocal in Tijuana.
The evening opened with film clips of deported veterans telling their stories as part of a collaborative video project with UC-Davis followed by a panel discussion led by 2 of the more than 50 deported vets in Tijuana and a Gold Star father whose son is currently in the U.S. military. One of the Deported Vets, Hector, said “If I’m dead I can go back (to U.S) like nothing. They’ll ship my ashes home and send a flag to my family.”
Prior to their deportation, these vets were legal permanent residents living in the US between 3 - 48 years with their families on green cards. Some were summoned to appear at immigration hearings while overseas, their  commanders making the false promise that they would handle the situation. Others struggling with PTSD were deported over minor drug offenses. 
The event concluded with representatives from Veterans for Peace, including VFP National President, Jerry Condan, placing the migrant crisis in the context of U.S. foreign policy and militarism, especially in Central America.
MPT was honored to have been invited to this event and to place a peace team the following day at an event co-sponsored by the veterans.  More to follow on how we can help bring these deported vets back to the U.S. where many of them have family waiting for their loved ones to return home.

The Wall: Which Side Are You On? A Team Member’s Reflection

by Kim Redigan

Borders and barbed wire. Separation fences. Spotlights. Guards and guns. And always the walls.

MPT teams are often working in places where walls divide humanity, creating the illusion of “other” who then becomes objectified into "enemy." Walls are always built on a foundation of fear. They serve as monuments to the idols of nationalism, racism, militarism. They say something about the human heart.

Over the past week, we have looked at many walls. We have seen remnants of the old, corrugated wall that separates the U.S. from Mexico, but mostly we stood in the shadows of walls that more accurately reflect this political moment. Towering, slotted rust iron walls separated from large concrete walls topped with concertina wire by a paved “no man’s land” where Border Control and contractors come and go. This means no more kisses, smiles, or communion passed between people who belong together.

We saw serpentine walls that snake over green rural hills, and we saw towering walls that rub up against busy, congested highways in Tijuana.

We saw the bizarre “showcase” of wall prototypes set down with precision like a surreal set in a dystopian film. 

The cost of each of the eight prototypes ranged from $300,000 - $500,000 each. This is the site where Donald Trump staged a speech last month. Now the prototypes are being destroyed. 

A few miles away families, driven by the violence of poverty and war, arrive at the border and run into the wall of cruelty called the U.S. immigration system. They will be criminalized and treated like animals for fleeing the conditions that have, in many cases, been caused by U.S. foreign policy. One wonders what it would take to destroy this wall and replace it with prototypes of compassion and justice.

We also saw the wall that divides the beach at Playas de Tijuana, reaching into the ocean like a long finger pointing toward freedom. It is here where the Unified U.S. Deported Vets and others have resisted through art, color, gardens, and creativity. This is the place where border church services are held each Sunday. The place where Border Angels serve up coffee and support for migrants in a weathered beach shack.

A place where ocean waves roll out and in, out and in, out and in, whispering a mantra that echoes all the way from Mexico to Palestine to the most faraway place of all - the human heart.

These walls must fall! These walls must fall! These walls must fall!

T

Protective Accompaniment for a joint Muslim and Deported U.S. Veterans' Event

On our final day in Tijuana, the MPT Border Team was asked to don  vests and serve on a peace team at a rally and march sponsored by Unified U.S. Deported Veterans and the Latina Muslim Foundation and joined by members of Veterans for Peace and Tijuana Propone.

The day began on the El Chaparral plaza where a “Hands Off Venezuela” rally and prayer service for the people of Venezuela was held. From there, marchers carrying brooms and plastic bags spread out around areas not far from Avenida Revolución. The march and clean-up event, Eco-Project for a Clean Tijuana - One World, Two Communities, One Humanity Without Borders, was lively and included many young people. The march concluded with a big clean-up at a park next to the wall.

MPT accompanied the marchers throughout the streets of Tijuana. At one point, the team encountered a very agitated and inebriated man from the U.S. who was alternately screaming profanities and claiming he was God while letting everyone around him know that he killed James Brown. The team was concerned about the presence of so many children in the vicinity and worried about his safety, given the strong police presence in the area. While two of our affinity teams (subsets of our Team as a whole) stayed with the march, one affinity team stayed back and de-escalated the man by finding areas of common ground. He may have been drunk, mentally ill, and loud, but his humanity shone through when he spoke of his beloved mother.

Although the rest of the march had moved on, the decision was made to stay with this man because of out of concern for his safety. After the two team members accompanied the man to a local dental clinic, the entire Team was available to escort marchers back to their starting point.

After that, we said our farewells to our veteran friends over filtered water and packaged almonds before heading back across the border. 

Serving on this accompaniment team was the perfect way to end our time in Tijuana.

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  The Team meets at the Deported Vets office

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  Heading off to the rally site

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  Gathering for the joint rally & clean-up effort

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  Team members in place

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  Community working together

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  VFP member harassed by police

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  "Humanity without Borders"!

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  Everyone pitched in

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  Humanity at its best

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  EVERYONE working together

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  Stop the War on Immigrants

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  The event flyer

Accompaniment with Al Otro Lado

A major part of MPT’s Border Team assignment in Tijuana involved volunteering with Al Otro Lado (To The Other Side, aka “AOL”).  AOL offers bi-national direct legal services

to indigent deportees, refugees, and migrants. AOL is deeply involved in human rights advocacy and litigation work on both sides of the border.

We were told at our orientation that AOL organizers and volunteers receive death threats on an almost daily basis from organized crime, gangs, and abusive domestic partners. They are also harrassed by the U.S. and Mexican governments. Recently, two of AOL’s co-directors who are U.S. citizens have been denied entry into Mexico, a testament to the organization’s good work on behalf of humanity.

One of MPT’s “four pillars” is partnering with and working alongside other justice-oriented groups and organizations. Our team was honored to work with AOL volunteers at El Chaparral in the morning and at the AOL site where people attend daily charlas (in English, a “chat”) in the afternoon. This is where legal issues related to immigration and asylum are discussed and asylum seekers can consult with volunteer attorneys and legal workers. There is also a volunteer medical clinic on site. 

As we interacted with those waiting to register to enter the building, we met children with terrible coughs, babies wrapped and shivering in thin blankets, and a young Salvadoran woman who asked for a pregnancy test. Many of those lined up to see lawyers and doctors were people we had met that morning at El Chaparral where they received information about AOL’s services via flyers distributed by volunteers.

This is a tense time of the day when people who are cold, tired, and worn down  are especially vulnerable. Many asylum seekers are fleeing state violence, domestic violence, and gangs - violence which sometimes pursues them all the way to the border...and potentially to the doors of AOL. Many have cause to be scared. Others, especially women and children, are susceptible to the myriad types of violence on the city streets near the border, including muggings, assault, kidnapping and human trafficking.

Our job was to create a peaceful space where people could feel safe and secure as they checked in for charla and the clinic while monitoring the street near AOL’s unmarked back door where a lot of activity takes place. Once people were registered, we accompanied them into the building, introducing them to the legal volunteers and doctors waiting to receive them.Although it was difficult, we embraced the AOL protocol of staying focused on the task at hand without succumbing to tears, rage, or anxiety that would only exacerbate the trauma that everyone carries with them to the border. 

One of the highlights for the team was a meeting held with AOL to discuss how elements of our MPT de-escalation skills training could be integrated into AOL’s orientation. The team discussed strategies that could be employed, along with the techniques highlighted in our training manual, with a resulting commitment to hold a teleconference with AOL to help with this piece of their work.

The MPT Border Team was impressed by AOL’s practice of starting each morning with a centering exercise and ending each afternoon in a closing circle where each volunteer was given the opportunity to name the joys and heartbreaks of the day’s work. The intensity of life on the border - the horror of the stories - the anger and grief that is inevitable - means that self-care in a loving community is imperative. It was good to collaborate with a group that recognizes the degree to which “our roots are all connected,” a key tenet of MPT’s belief in the sacred interconnectedness of all life.  AOL's work is nothing short of heroic, and we were honored to partner with them.

- Kim Redigan