Borderlands

The US & Mexico Border

The land that makes up the United States and Mexico border is one of the most complex and forever-changing spaces. Border policies on a national and state level seem to change weekly or even daily. Surges of asylum seekers fleeing for their lives (worldwide) are showing up asking for refuge. Border wall construction impacts local communities, endangered species, and protected habits to cartel kidnapping, killing, and trafficking drugs and humans. There is no black-and-white answer to much of anything in the space. The one straightforward thing is that the border brings vulnerable people who deserve kindness. All humans, regardless of status, skin color, belief, age, or gender, deserve to be treated with love and dignity and given fundamental human rights. This page has been created to help empower us all to understand the border better and give us tools and resources to change the narrative and help humanize a space that has become demonized. Below is a list of recesses, stories, and links to organizations dedicated to bringing hope, justice, dignity, and education to and about the border. People that work inside refugee shelters and camps, aid teams that bring water into the desert, groups protecting and resorting to the environment, Lawyers providing legal guidance, and much more. We hope this pace helps connect you discreetly to a group(s) that you might be able to support, volunteer with, or talk about with others so more people can have a fuller and more compassionate perspective about our borderlands.

more updates and resources will be added over the following months. And planning on returning to the border in 2024.

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Remy and Imelda, Haitian Asylum Seekers in a Refugee camp in Reynosa Mexico, Sept 2022

Remy and his pregnant wife Imelda lived in a tent city on the banks of the Rio Grande River in Reynosa, Mexico, for months after they made the journey through the Darien Gap from Brazil, where they had been living for years under refugee status from Haiti. Remy lived in Brazil for years before being able to pay for, at the time, his girlfriend, Imelda, to fly to join him. Remy originally left Haiti because of the Hurricane that smashed through their country. They were making a life for themselves in Brazil but soon after Brazil changed its policies, they were forced to leave and make the unbelievably dangerous journey on foot to the US border.

Luckily in mid-September, Remy and Imelda had their asylum case approved and were allowed to enter the USA. They are currently living in Orlando and have given birth to their son.

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Based in Ajo Arizona, is a humanitarian aid relief group that brings life-saving supplies into the southern Arizona desert for migrates. Supplies like water, canned food, and socks. They strategically leave it in spaces where migrants/refugees have been seen, evidence of them are lying around, and or spots, where bodies have been recovered volunteers, can hike anywhere from quarter mile to over 15 miles to deliver supplies into the desert.

The day that I joined two volunteers on a drop we hiked about 7 miles (round trip) in 100°+ weather in an area where a lot of people trying to cross have lost their life.

As the summer months come the weather becomes more intense and it's harder to find volunteers to serve. Ajo has a lot of snowbirds who volunteer their time with the Samaritan but also leave in the summer months.

They are always looking for volunteers to do water drops, help runs the resource/education center, and do numerous other tasks to keep their work happening.

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groups, individuals, and Organizations working at the border

This list exists for you to get connected to the border directly in hopes you will follow, support, donate and or maybe even volunteer with one or multiple groups. This resource is to empower those below and yourself to be connect to what is happening and help bring humanity to our borderlands. This list will continue to grow as we build a larger data base and connections to those doing the work.