The real border crisis is not the people, it is the process
Immigration has been a hot political topic in America for practically its entire history. Most of the debate over the years has been what types of groups of people should be allowed in the country. While this is still a relevant topic of American debate, in the past few years, there has been an increasing focus on the facilities immigrants stay in while waiting to get into the country.
Most to all of this focus has been given to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities where you can find countless photos online from articles by the New York Times, Politico, the ACLU, etc. showing men, women, and children crowded behind fenced-in areas. These graphic images detail a huge problem, and they can make many feel as if there is no way to help immigrants other than voting for a particular party.
Participating in politics may be the only way to address the large problems in immigration, but that doesn’t detail the entirety of problems immigrants face once they get to the border. Once cleared through Customs, the immigrants still need food, shelter, and new clothing while they wait for buses or planes to get them to their destination. For the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, this facility is the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, run by Sister Norma Pimentel’s Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.
The CCRGV’s overall goal is to be a charity that “provide[s] assistance to the poor and most vulnerable population in (the Rio Grande Valley).”
The Humanitarian Respite Center specifically offers services to refugees who have been “released from federal custody and arrive at our shelter through daily coordination with CBP, the city, local community volunteers and CCRGV staff.”
The services offered include, but are not limited to, three meals a day, medical attention, a place to sleep, showers and handing out resources: diapers, deodorant, shampoo, and other basic toiletry items, as well as donated clothing. Many of the refugees the center serves have walked 1000+ miles to get to the American border through various forms of travel, including on foot. Refugees staying at the center are usually waiting on flights and buses to major cities, family members, etc.
Domestic politics have made the center’s mission to provide basic services to migrants more difficult, as they now have to monitor the COVID-19 status of the migrants who stay at the center and those who have to stay in nearby hotels and facilities due to a positive test. In August 2021, CCRGV entered into a legal battle with Governor Greg Abbot to block his executive order that would make it impossible for them to transport migrants without the help of local or federal authorities. Wofford Students and Faculty can help the Humanitarian Respite Center through financial and physical donations. Other than the services listed above, all item donations they need are listed on the donate section of their website, which can be found at https://www.catholiccharitiesrgv.org/Donations.aspx. All other needed information, such as their donation address, is listed on the same page.
