Journey For Justice Dec 3rd, Day 3 Brownsville to Higaldo to Del Rio

This morning, as the sun rose over the southern most tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach and the Gulf of Mexico, we began our 15 day pilgrimage from Brownsville Texas to San Ysidro CA, all along the u.s. and Mexican border as we seek out information about the current status of refugees entering or attempting to enter the u.s., keep track of the border patrol and homeland security as well as the murders they have and are committing, connect with the various volunteer organizations and people who are providing services for refugees waiting on the Mexico side and those that have been able to touch u.s. soil.

Witness at the Border has planned this caravan and folks have come from several parts of the u.s. as well as the border towns. Today, some of us will pass over into Matamoros and witness the changes since the last time we were here before covid closed down the border.

Some will go to the bus station and greet refugees with food and toiletries and try to answer questions if possible.

Later in the afternoon, we headed off to Higaldo to the crossing where the young man from Cuba crossed the Rio Grande with four of his friends when the border patrol caught up with them, shot the young man once, and then continued to shoot again 4 more times in the back.

Only Marina and I didn’t make it to that gathering because when we got out of the truck, a car was idling next to us with two womyn sitting inside waiting to talk with us: one, very young, spoke English, the mother who was the driver, spoke Spanish.

They stopped us because they saw our message about ending violence against womyn and children. Maria was very distraught because her best friend, who did not speak English and was a refugee, was being beaten and threatened by her husband. With tears and shaky voices, they were so worried and feeling inadequate because the police were not helping nor did they know who to turn to.

I was scrambling to remember my contacts, although I did say we could go pick her up and I’d take her to a safe house. Unfortunately the womyn said her husband was home and she was terrified to leave while he was there. On top of that, recently another womon in hilgado was trying to leave her husband and he murdered her.

Thankfully, Maria didn’t have to suffer thru my terrible Spanish as my co-pilot Marina could speak with her. We didn’t know any resources there in Higaldo but we had google. I gave her the national domestic violence hotline but wondered if it still was working and more, did they have Spanish-speaking advocates.

Marina knew of individual womyn in Brownsville and Austin, her home town, who helped womyn escape and/or knew of resources for her.

Later we figured out that Mujeres Unidas had a chapter in McAllen, thank the goddesses. If she connects with them – and I sure hope they do – she will be taken care of. I’m not sure again if any of these agencies and services survived covid but I sure hope they did.

We headed on to Laredo and spent the night camping at Lake Casa Blanca State Park, which was beautiful. We actually drove around in circles, as the park was huge and signage poor so we couldn’t find the campground. Lucky for us, a ranger saw our lights and figure we were lost so he drove over and took us to the campground. He even sent another ranger over in the morning to make sure we were able to find our way out.