Schar School of Policy and Government Associate Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is undertaking a remarkable journey this month: She, along with journalist Sergio Chapa of the Houston Chronicle, is driving the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s the second time they’ve made the journey—the first time was in 2013—“but much has changed since then,” she said. “We thought we should repeat the experience given the enormous changes that the region has undergone in recent years.”
Her observations will enrich her research and teaching of migration, human trafficking, organized crime, border security, militarized drug cartels, and other issues that appear in headlines each day. Watch these pages in the coming days for updates on Correa-Cabrera’s journey as she shares her insights encountered on her 1,600-mile drive from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, Calif. —Buzz McClain
This is Day 4 of our journey. We arrived at Presidio, Texas, the town that borders the city of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, that we would visit the next day. But first we headed to the Texas towns of Ruidosa and Candelaria to visit a wooden footbridge that people of Candelaria and San Antonio del Bravo, Chihuahua, used in the past to cross over and communicate between their communities. Very few families live there, and the kids of those communities attend school on the U.S. side but get their healthcare in Mexico. This is what we were told.
There seems to be some activity connected to human smuggling in the area since we heard some stories and saw Border Patrol cars actively operating there. Then we learned there was no bridge anymore because Border Patrol blew it up, alleging drugs were crossing there from Mexico. We did not believe that story, but who knows?
Still, people cross illegally through that part of the border. Some of the families of those towns own houses on both sides of the border. We met a man who has dual citizenship and two houses, one on the Mexican side and another house on the U.S. side.
Before arriving to El Paso, we stopped in the very touristic city of Marfa, Texas, famous for its magic “Marfa lights” and artistic expressions. We also stopped at the Border Patrol Station and detention center of Clint, Texas, recently at the center of the political discussion in the United States, due to the alleged bad conditions and inhumane treatment of migrants and asylum seekers there.
We finally arrived at El Paso and crossed at night to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Nightlife in Ciudad Juarez seemed interesting—not pleasant though. This city was the most dangerous city of the world some years ago.
The next day we had a meeting with Alfredo Corchado, the Mexico border correspondent for the Dallas Morning News. Alfredo is one of the best-known border reporters today. He gave me his impressions on the central border and irregular immigration. It was a fantastic conversation, and Sergio had this observation: “Our first trip across the border happened during Mexico’s drug war, and the second trip across the border happened during the migrant crisis,” he said. “I’m happy to report that the people living along the border are just as welcoming, hospitable, and friendly today as they were back then.
“That being said, the border has physically changed. Razor wire has been added to large sections on the American side of the border wall. Customs officers have set up metering stations in the middle of international bridges and land border crossing to send asylum seekers back to Mexico where they are staying in shelters or makeshift camps.”
Back in Juarez, we visited the station of the National Institute of Migration. There were several migrants and asylum seekers wandering around the streets close to the station and downtown. The Institute now operates buses that are sending migrants back to their countries of origin. Days before our visit, Cuban migrants tried to rush the southbound lanes of the international bridge. In response, customs officers placed razor wire and blockades on the southbound lanes.
We visited Juarez’s main sites in downtown and finished the long day at the Kentucky Bar, a landmark in the city. It is said that the famous cocktail, the Margarita, was created there.