Volunteers assist asylum-seekers

As the sun started to set on April 15, men, women and children waiting to request political asylum in the U.S. prepared for the night by setting up their tents in a small park in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, next to the Gateway International Bridge.

Earlier that day, Michael Benavidez, a special education supervisor in the Brownsville Independent School District and co-founder of Team Brownsville, a nonprofit group that serves the asylum-seekers who cross through the Brownsville ports of entry, started his way from the La Plaza at Brownsville Terminal bus station to cross the bridge into Matamoros with a group of six other volunteers.

After making their way through the bridge, they were welcomed by a couple of migrants who were already expecting Team Brownsville’s arrival in Matamoros.

As soon as the volunteers started to set up close to the entrance of the bridge on the Matamoros side, a line of about 90 migrants formed, ready to receive what for many of them would be their last meal of the day.

Andrea Rudnik, a retired special education teacher and a volunteer from Team Brownsville who has been in the group since its formation in June 2018, said she considers the asylum-seekers she helps as family.

“They become part of you, like an extension of you,” Rudnik said.

The migrants come from several countries around the world, including Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, Guatemala, India and Russia,
Benavidez said.

“They are sitting here all day long, just waiting,” he said.

Team Brownsville has been providing migrants on a daily basis with at least two cooked meals a day, bottled water, blankets, pillows, clothes, medical services and other necessities.

Most of the migrants will not touch U.S. territory for months since, on a regular day, U.S. immigration authorities only process two to
five migrants.

However, several asylum-seekers told The Rider that there are days when no migrants are requested by U.S. immigration authorities, which increases the time they have to wait at the international bridge.

Mexican bridge authorities keep a list of names of all the people who are seeking asylum. As of April 15, the list had more than 700 names of migrants who are waiting in Matamoros.

Once U.S. immigration agents request asylum-seekers, the Mexican bridge authorities call the names of the migrants that are next on the list and who qualify with the requirements of the immigration agents. These requirements can be female, male, female with children or, maybe, a whole family unit, according to several asylum-seekers.

These migrants are then directed to U.S. immigration officers who process them to determine their eligibility to request political asylum.

“I come here daily, because I can’t risk getting my name, my wife’s or my son’s taken off the list,” Carlos Cisneros Portillo, a migrant from the city of El Progreso in Honduras, said in Spanish.

Cisneros has been waiting in Matamoros for four months. He said he and his family were No. 133 on the list of people waiting to
request asylum.

He fled Honduras due to the government’s corrupt practices and the increase in violence his country is experiencing.

To support his family, Cisneros works as a street vendor, selling hats to the travelers who use the Gateway International Bridge. With his earnings, he has been able to rent a house in Matamoros, where he lives with his wife and son, who also migrated with him.

However, not all the asylum-seekers can live under a roof like Cisneros, which is why Team Brownsville started to provide tents to the migrants.

Aside from assisting the migrants with their daily needs, Mark Redwine, a pastor and volunteer for Team Brownsville, sings and plays his guitar for the asylum-seekers, especially migrant children.

“The songs we sing … are mostly from Central America and Mexico,” Redwine said. “Almost anybody that’s been in a church has grown up with these songs, so it brings back memories and also brings them joy to see their kids celebrating their faith.” 

Pedro Yadel Izquierdo Martiato, a migrant from Havana, Cuba, said there have been irregularities with the list of asylum-seekers.

“When I got here, I was 401 and now I am 405,” Izquierdo said in Spanish. “They say there are issues with the list. I don’t know about that situation. Honestly, all I can do is wait here and here I will wait as long as it takes because I’m not going back to Cuba.”

He said he fled from his home country after he was threatened with jail by the government for not wanting to work as a community informer.

Team Brownsville works together with the Good Neighbor Settlement House, a nonprofit agency at 1254 E. Tyler St. that helps the homeless with basic needs. Recently, the agency also has been collaborating with other volunteer organizations to provide aid to immigrants.

The volunteer group is divided into two missions. One mission is in charge of helping immigrants who are being released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Brownsville terminal and the other helps asylum-seekers who are waiting in Matamoros, Benavidez said.

“A lot of people, even my own siblings, think that I’m feeding criminals,” he said. “Everyone that’s here is here legally. Everyone here has permission to be here. … These are good people and if you don’t believe me, we leave at 5:30 [p.m.] from the Brownsville bus station every day to serve dinner. Just come with us and see for yourself.”

Donations for Team Brownsville can be made in person at the Good Neighbor Settlement House or through its website, goodneighborsettlementhouseinc.org. To donate through the group’s Facebook page, visit facebook.com/donate/412359239533089/. For more information about Team Brownsville, call 542-2368.

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