As the first flight returning Venelezuan asylum seekers has left Mexico countless others remain at the US border waiting for their opportunity to seek protection.

Biden Administration Continues to Expel Asylum Seekers to Danger While U.S. Border Communities Stand Ready to Welcome.

In the last year we’ve witnessed a cruel strategy to break migrants and our border community - zero tolerance, family separation and now Remain Mexico. This a moment for decision. It’s now up to us to define the next chapter for our Paso del Norte community and work together for justice at the US-Mexico border.

HOPE spoke to dozens of people on the move in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and posed the question: “What led you to leave your home?” The answers revealed a confluence of natural and human-made disasters, economic structures that impoverish and state failure to protect people experiencing both generalized and gender-based violence.

Isolated from other major urban centers, the COVID-19 pandemic took its time arriving in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region. Once it did arrive in mid-March, it became apparent that our community was particularly vulnerable.

HOPE’s Immigration Court Watch Network is designed to help groups launch and sustain immigration court observation programs in targeted communities across the country. The program is a strong fit for advocates, organizers, university groups and faith communities committed to fight for justice.

Learn more about the ways migrants and refugees deal with trauma and a broken immigration system to build resilience, strength and find meaning in the midst of suffering.

Remain in Mexico represents a new level of assault on migrants, our binational communities and our country’s commitment to asylum. But it is also a piece with the long legacy of racism at the border and a national history of immigrant scapegoating.