With the continuing hold on migrants crossing the border, many of these Hispanic leaders are looking for new ways to serve our two countries.
This has been especially tough for Angelica Parra from El Paso who is recovering from back surgery from her many years as a member of the US Border Patrol. We met at the border almost 6 years ago while she was giving food and toys to Mexican kids across the wall. We have joined her efforts ever since. Because of cartel violence in that area between Sunland Park on the US side and Anapra, Mexico, she has now decided to shift her efforts to help the Tarahumara Indians further to the south.
Angelica is from a Mexican family, worked as a Juarez police officer for thirteen years before crossing the border to be part of the Border Patrol.
I first met Eunice Herrera at a huge La Casa de Amor para Ninos celebration in Palomas, Mexico in 2010. Although just a teenager, she was the Master of Ceremony at that Mother’s Day celebration and even played the guitar.
Her parents were from south of Palomas but her father also had a parish in El Paso where Eunice was born. This enabled her to go to college at the University of Texas at El Paso.
She then went to work at the Santa Fe law firm of Jim Noble; he and his wife, Pat were the founders of the La Casa program in Palomas.
Visiting the law offices in Santa Fe, I said to Eunice that she should become a lawyer; she has done so and is now a partner in that firm. However, she is still constantly involved in La Casa.
“Do something bold” says Eva Moya. She was also from a Mexican family but born in El Paso. As a teenager, she would look out of her high school window and wish she could go to UTEP. Her counsel said to her, “Focus on cooking. Or just find a husband.” Instead, she now has a PhD from UTEP and is the leader of border issues.
She works closely with Grecia Herrera who started Respettrans as a shelter for transgender migrants but that didn’t work. Then it became a shelter for mostly women and their children, with more than 400 at a time.
What was amazing is how the migrants themselves ran everything because Grecia had a nursing job in a local hospital. The cooking and eating area was in the ground level. Above were large open spaces where individual families slept, each with their own set of blankets.
Often there would be instructors who had learned some English in their home countries and could work with the young migrants and teach them some English.
Now Grecia is looking for a new project – perhaps turning the building into a shelter for abused women.
Persistence is a word she often uses. That will help her reach her next goal.
Sandra Magallanes originally crossed the border as a teenager near Palomas to the west of Juarez and spend many years trying to gain US citizenship. It finally occurred about two years ago. She is proud of her Mexican heritage but even more so of her new American one. She spends most of her time between Deming and Palomas, Mexico to the south, helping people in need.
Lupe Ayala and her husband, Beto started Punto Zero, a mental asylum almost ten years ago and she and her family members have continued despite Beto’s death. Fortunately, she has formed a relation with Missionaries Ministry from Colorado which has a large presence in that part of Juarez and they have remodeled many of her buildings as well as providing financial support.
In addition, a unique father and son team – the Morena’s from El Paso – have started a fundraiser for her program.
Ivonne Romero and her husband, Sergio are leaders in Palomas, Mexico where they have maintained their store, La Tienda Rosa or The Pink Store for almost 30 years. The store is where Americans stop on their way to dental appointments or to pick up eyeglasses, enjoy an excellent meal and have the opportunity to buy gifts from a huge array of gifts from all over Mexico.
Knowing how important her workforce is, Ivonne has kept her store open even when times are tough.
Lorena Solares taught at the Tarahumara school on the western edge of Juarez for almost ten years, living far from her family home near the city of Chihuahua. However, when I asked about her family, she pointed to the Tarahumara kids and said that they were her kids.
Then she was briefly reassigned. When she returned, she was assaulted by one of the Tarahumara men, decided to leave and now has a new position with a much larger group of Tarahumaras.
Persistence, to quote Grecia Herrera. That’s what these women all possess. That’s what will find them new missions. All I can do is give them some well deserved credit.
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Colorado-based writer and researcher Morgan Smith. He writes regularly about U.S.-Mexico border issues. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.
