Bridget O’Donnell

(Above: A view of the U.S.-Mexico border from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Many of the streets in Juárez weren’t paved.)

For Spring Break this year, I went to Mexico.

I know what you’re thinking. But before you jump to any conclusions, I’ll do the explaining: I was there with 10 other students on an Alternative Spring Break trip (through the University of Michigan’s Ginsberg Center) to learn about the Border and immigration.

Oh, and I had to drive there. From Ann Arbor, Michigan. In a van. All in all, we drove through 7 different states:

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The trip there and back added up to about 3,400 miles and 4 days of driving.

Throughout the trip, we crossed the border between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas frequently. On our first night in the area, we slept at Casa Vides in El Paso. Casa Vides was one of the five satellite houses of the Annunciation House, a sort of shelter for newly-crossed (and usually undocumented) immigrants and refugees. We spent the next three days at Casa Emaus in Juárez. Our experiences with Annunciation House were all part of a program known as the Border Awareness Experience (BAE), a program for volunteers to learn about all types of issues relating to immigration.

To say that the experience was enlightening would be an understatement. In our four days there, I learned more about issues relating to immigration than I had ever learned in any class.

What was most surprising was that immigration wasn’t limited to, well, illegal immigrants. In our visits and talks with…

• A Social Worker’s facility in El Paso
• A Farmers labor union in El Paso
• A Factory workers labor union in Juárez
• The office of “Nuestras Hijas,” an organization dedicated to stopping the murders of the femicides in Juárez (more on this shortly)
• The home of a nun and priest working as missionaries in Juárez
• An after-school program run by a local teacher and resident in Juárez
• The Border Patrol Museum in El Paso
• Undocumented immigrants who had risked their lives in crossing

…we learned that Immigration was so much more complex than, well, illegal immigration.

Two of the biggest things I took back from the trip were 1) how the economy affects immigration and 2) how much women are being abused in the area.

What we learned about the former topic was that NAFTA had so negatively affected the Mexican economy that Mexicans were forced to either immigrate to the United States or work close to the border. You see, NAFTA lowered or eliminated tarriffs between North American countries, and as a result, cheap U.S. corn replaced Mexican corn — once the staple of the Mexican economy. Because of that, farmers were displaced and were forced to look for different jobs. Many turned to the factories of the North, causing the boom in Juárez’s population size in a little over ten years. Most of these factories are maquiladoras — assembly plants, and pay is unbelievably low, leading many to turn to the U.S. for better paying options. What’s more, the owners of these facilities have taken to hiring more young women in the last decade. The result has been deadly.

At the same time that these economic issues have been taking place, there have been a number of killings of women in the last 15 years or so. Since the mid-1990s, about 500 young women have been killed or kidnapped, and few suspects have been caught. Many of these women work late hours in the maquiladores, and little has been done to ensure their safety. These killings are simply known as the “femicides.” A popular (and very valid) theory is that powerful figures may be involved in the killings. Though I certainly cannot prove this theory, I watched two different documentaries* which suggest that the theory may be correct.

(On a side note, before going to that area, I knew little about the femicides. So naturally when I learned about the killings soon after finding out that I was to spend 3 days in Juárez, I freaked.)

And while all of this chaos is taking place in Mexico, the U.S. is spending millions of dollars to keep immigrants out. It was sort of ironic, then, to visit the Border Patrol museum on our final day in the area.

When we came back to Michigan, my group was inspired to learn more about the area and inform other students about it. We’re in the process of finding ways to screen the documentaries on campus.

As for me, I’ll always keep this experience in mind.

For photos from my trip, click here.

*Note: I don’t remember the names of these documentaries, but I’ll keep you updated when I find out.

This post is tagged Alternative Spring Break, femicides, immigration, Mexico, the border, travel, trips