The following is an account of the work of Lawyers for Good Government’s (L4GG) Project Corazon staff over the course of just three and a half days last week. Project Corazon is an immigrants’ rights initiative dedicated to defending the human rights of migrants, and runs a legal clinic for asylum seekers in the Rio Grande Valley (Matamoros and Reynosa, MX). Please note: client names have been changed to protect their privacy.
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 @ 5:30pm
Priscilla Orta, Project Corazon’s Supervising Attorney, receives an urgent message from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials at the Hidalgo Port of Entry:
“The family has been approved. They must get to the official migrant shelter in Reynosa tonight to be processed.”
The family is that of 3-year-old Louis, who is deaf. Louis cannot communicate with his family, but clearly favors his uncle. He cries when his uncle isn’t around.
Louis and his family of six had fled the violence and instability in Haiti (their home country) hoping to seek protection in the United States, but with the U.S. border closed to nearly 100% of asylum seekers, they are now forced to fend for themselves on the streets of Reynosa (Mexico).
The situation is dire. Last week, while his family was cooking communally in a makeshift tent encampment, Louis got too close to a pot of boiling water. He could not hear the cries of warning from the adults around him, and before anyone could reach him he plunged his arms into the boiling water.
Louis now has second degree burns covering his arms. The burns are severe. If he does not keep his arms well-dressed and clean (a task that is near-impossible when living in a tent camp with no running water), Louis is at risk of developing a life-threatening infection.
When volunteer doctors were called to assist Louis after his injury last week, they immediately contacted Estuardo Cifuentes (Project Corazon’s Client Services Manager) to see if we could help get Louis admitted to the United States to receive medical attention.
Within hours, our Project Corazon team had filed a request for Louis and his family to be paroled into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons. The Hidalgo port officials told us we had to wait.
The family was frantic. A storm had settled into Reynosa, flooding the family’s belongings and increasing Louis’ risk of infection.
Flooded migrant encampment in Reynosa, MX, courtesy of Humanizing Through Story
Now, after a week of waiting, port officials have finally agreed that Louis and his family should be paroled into the United States. But the family must make it to the migrant shelter before it is locked down for the evening. The shelter is a one-hour walk away, and it’s already 5:30pm.
Priscilla quickly contacts the family, typing furiously into Google Translate as the family speaks Haitian Creole and there is no time for a translator.
There isn’t a second to lose.
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 @ 7:15pm
The sun is setting, and Priscilla is getting worried. Where is the family? Have they made it to the shelter? Have they been kidnapped on the way there?
Finally Priscilla receives a phone call from the family — they are being denied entry by the shelter.
Through the speakerphone, Priscilla begins shouting in Spanish:
“Let them in! They are cleared!”
The shelter director gets on the phone and tells Priscilla he has them. They are allowed in. For tonight, they are safe.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 @ 2:00pm
Priscilla receives word that Louis and his family were successfully paroled into the United States and are now on their way to Florida to live with other family members.
A happy ending — but with one exception: the draconian parole system would not allow Louis’ uncle to enter. Based on their definitions, he is not considered “family.”
Louis is now safe from immediate harm, but crying. He misses his uncle.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 @ 7:00pm
Jessica Riley, Project Corazon Staff Attorney, receives a call from the volunteer doctors group that our 20-year-old client Jose needs medical attention in the United States immediately.
He is in severe diabetic shock. Based on the doctors’ assessment, he has a 50% chance of surviving the next 72 hours.
Jose has suffered from juvenile diabetes his entire life, a condition that has left him small for his age. Immediately before being referred to our team for legal assistance, he had spent two weeks in a hospital in Mexico.
After securing his medical records, Jessica contacts the Port and requests humanitarian parole for Jose. Port officials agree that he can enter the U.S. later that evening, but cannot guarantee if he will be released from CBP custody that evening or the next morning.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 @ 9:30pm
Port officials call and tell Jessica that Jose is ready to be released into the United States.
Our team jumps into action — Priscilla drives to the port to pick him up and Jessica quickly books a hotel so Jose will have a safe place to sleep that night.
When Priscilla arrives at the port, she sees an ambulance. Her heart jumps into her throat — is it Jose? After confirming that he is not inside the ambulance, she heads inside, calmer.
Jose is in good spirits and ready to go. As they walk through the exit, a border agent says loudly enough for Priscilla to hear:
“Yeah right, like HE has diabetes.”
Diabetes, like many medical conditions, is not always visible to the eye. Priscilla is grateful that Jose either didn’t hear the agent or didn’t understand him, as this micro-aggression is just one in a long line that our clients experience daily.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 @ 10:00pm
On the way to the hotel, Priscilla takes Jose to Whataburger for a meal. Bizarrely, the restaurant is out of water, which is an issue for Jose (his condition requires that he abstain from sweet drinks).
As they consider where to go to get water, a woman on foot approaches their car selling water bottles and lemons. Priscilla and Jose feel as if she has been sent there just for them, and consider it a good omen.
Jose jokes that he finally understands why Whataburger is “like a religion” in Texas.
Jose at his first stop in the U.S. — Whataburger
Around 10:30pm, Priscilla leaves Jose safe at his hotel for the evening.
Thursday, August 18, 2022 @ 9:30am
Priscilla messages her client Andrea to check on her and confirm their meeting that morning in Matamoros. Andrea replies that she had worked on her asylum paperwork, but adds:
“Abogada, I wanted to tell you that I might not be very good to talk to today because I was almost raped this morning.”
When Andrea arrived in Matamoros months ago seeking asylum from her home country of Peru, she was kidnapped by a cartel, forced across the river into the US, put to work in a drug stash house, and seriously abused.
When she was caught by CBP, Andrea dutifully identified the people who had trafficked her for sex and labor in the U.S., making her eligible for a T-Visa. But she wasn’t allowed to stay in the United States.
The U.S. government placed Andrea into the “Remain in Mexico” (MPP) program and left her in Matamoros. She has been sleeping in the streets ever since. Vulnerable and alone, Andrea was an easy target for sexual assault.
Now, on the phone with Priscilla, Andrea explains that she is bleeding from her most recent assault.
Priscilla rushes to cross the bridge from Brownsville, TX to Matamoros, MX to see her, calling Jessica on the way. Jessica begins drafting parole request documents and calls the Port.
Thursday, August 18, 2022 @ 4:00pm
No answer from Port officials yet, and our team is growing desperate.
There are no shelters for migrants in Matamoros. Asylum seekers living in Matamoros must fend for themselves completely, so they are extremely vulnerable and frequently preyed upon.
Sleeping outside again just isn’t an option for Andrea.
Kind friends of our team book a hotel for her, and another unsung hero has his driver get Andrea safely to her hotel.
Friday, August 19, 2022 @ 10:30am
Our staff gets word that Andrea will be paroled this morning. Again, we jump into action.
Working with a team of service providers on both sides of the border, Priscilla and the team pick up Andrea from the Port of Entry in Brownsville, TX and make sure she has a safe transition into the U.S.
Andrea in front of the “Welcome to the United States of America” sign
Priscilla, Jessica, and Estuardo help Andrea get food, new clothing, a place to sleep to recover, mental health services, and a plane ticket.
Andrea with Project Corazon Supervising Attorney Priscilla Orta
This week, and next week, and every week after that…
Priscilla, Jessica, Estuardo, and the entire staff of Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) will continue this work. But we need your help. The humanitarian crisis at our Southern border is causing indescribable suffering. Please help us do what we can to continue helping clients like Louis, Jose, and Andrea.
Please donate to Project Corazon so we can continue this work, and share this post. Thank you.