With thousands of migrants arriving daily, the border between the United States and Mexico has experienced moments of tension and emotions marked by the determination of those seeking the American dream without a visa.
In Eagle Pass, Texas, separated from Piedras Negras in Mexico by the Rio Grande, the sun was about to rise on Sunday when dozens of migrants were already battling the water to save a one-year-old boy and his mother who were lost in the middle. across the current
Little Olga was left in the arms of Yonder Urbina, paralyzed by her efforts in the middle of the river while her mother reached the American shore.
There, the arriving migrants took their belts to use this rope, but the current blew it away. People are shouting, Olga is crying, and military personnel are watching.
The group grabbed a rope and threw it to Urbina’s cousin, who walked to the middle of the river to reach the man and the boy, helping them out of the deepest part.
When the cousins ​​reached the shallower part of the river, another man caught up with them and the tension was broken by clapping.
“Grief”
But the joy was short-lived, and one last obstacle arose.
An inextricable tangle of concertina wire reinforced by Texas authorities daily prevents the passage of migrants in regions like this one, where sections of the wall limit many parts of more than 3,000 kilometers of border.
But for them, trying again is an option, and no obstacle can discourage them, especially at the end of the road.
Meters below, Urbina and González found a wall of containers that they climbed to jump into US territory.
While the border patrol rescued the rest of the group trapped in the water, others on the coast of Piedras Negras began to cross.
“We did”
After tense moments in the river, where the border patrol often intervened with a lifeboat, hundreds of people gathered at the foot of the terrifying wire wall.
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When the temperature exceeded 40 oC, the border patrol had to cut part of the wire to save the migrants from the unbearable temperature.
“We just want to raise our children,” said Venezuelan Yusmayra Pirela, 38.
Most of them brought their clothes, phones damaged during the trip, documents, and information from their relatives in the United States.
Others stayed by the side of the road.
Ana Hernández asked for water to be poured over her 10-month-old baby’s head while he was crying. “They want to steal our children from a supermarket (in Mexico), so we’re in a hurry,” he said.
After noon, when more than 300 people crossed, another mother with three children arrived on the American shore.
Ignoring the border troops, this desperate woman injured her children while trying to cross the razor-sharp wire.
They saved the children. On a small island in the middle of the river, there was a woman in a wheelchair.
32-year-old Honduran MarÃa Argentina, with stumps and a two-year-old child, arrived there with the help of her brother and other migrants. But now he had to cross the deepest part of the river.
The men put a child’s life jacket on him and held him.
The officers of the border patrol commented themselves—they could not give statements—that at that time it was impossible to bring the bank because of the change in the current.
Argentina sank despite the efforts of the men who decided to return to the island. After a pause, they tried again.
Arriving at the beach, Argentina was crying on the ground, soaked and covered in mud, next to his daughter Nathalie, who was a person who had crossed before.
“Thank God we did it,” said Venezuelan Leonel Fernández.
In the afternoon, when the temperature was still melting, the flow of people continued.
While military personnel of Operation Lone Star covered the gaps in the day with new wire, more migrants continued to enter the river.
“It’s a hot spot,” a man from the border patrol said as the sun went down. “Today was stressful,” he agreed. “But for us, it’s another frontier day.”
