More Than 1,500 Migrants Wade Across the Rio Grande into El Paso in One Day

More than 300 migrants got off seven buses at the Leona Vicario shelter. They would be given food and medical attention and then would be allowed to leave if they wished, said Ana Laura Rodela, a spokesperson for Leona Vicario.

Many migrants in this group were victims of a mass kidnapping in Durango on Dec. 3, when passengers on the Futura bus lines traveling toward the border were stopped by men in police uniforms. They were brought en masse to a house where they were held against their will.

“We were 1,500 people sleeping in a house,” said Carmen, a 29-year-old woman from Peru who did not want to use her real name because she fears reprisals after being kidnapped. “They took everything, my passport, my phone. My legs are covered with bruises from other people kicking while we slept.”

They were rescued by members of the Mexican military after six days, but many of them like Carmen were not able to recover their stolen documents and possessions in the confusion of the rescue operation.

They continued on their way to Chihuahua, where state authorities initially told them that buses would take them to the border in Juárez, where they could cross to surrender themselves to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The buses arrived instead at shelters in Juárez, where many of the migrants felt they would be locked in just as they had been when they were kidnapped.

“I feel like they are not being straightforward with us,” said Carmen as she sat on the bus in the Leona Vicario parking lot. “I feel like I am being treated like a criminal when I am a victim. I don’t trust anyone.”

When the shelters told the migrants they were free to go, hundreds of them made their way to the Rio Grande 2 miles away. State police escorted some of the groups from the shelters to the riverbank.

Marjorie and her 6-year-old son, also victims of the kidnapping, arrived at the river around 6 p.m. A Venezuelan man helped the little boy across a shallow area of the river near the Puente Negro railroad bridge. Marjorie followed behind, clutching a bag of belongings.

Earlier in the day, a few hundred migrants had formed a line along the El Paso side of the river. Marjorie and hundreds of others from the caravan of buses who streamed across the river joined the line, where some people had started to build fires to stay warm. Others crossed back to Juárez to buy water and food for those in line.

“I am traumatized from threats in my country, and I am traumatized from the kidnapping here. All I want is to arrive at a place that is safe,” said Carmen. “That is all we’re asking for.”

Corrie Boudreaux is a lecturer in the Department of Communication at UTEP and a freelance photojournalist at the El Pao Matters. This story is published courtesy of the Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues.