Guest Columnist – New Year’s Eve on the Border -

Picture/Morgan Smith

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Morgan Smith

Former Colorado’s congressman

Haga click aquí para leer la versión en español

We left Santa Fe at 8 in the morning, my wife, Sherry and I. What cold! 11 degrees. Our destination? The border wall west of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez. We wanted to take photos of the Mexican soldiers who guard the wall and interview them to better understand if migrants were still coming across the wall or crossing over the rocky and very difficult mountain, Monte Cristo Rey.

We arrived in midafternoon and spoke with a US Border Patrol agent who told us that he had worked in this area for ten years and loved his work. He also said that more migrants were crossing now, sometimes using ladders to get over this enormous wall.

New Year’s Eve on the Border Nochevieja en la frontera

We then talked to a group of young Mexicans. They live on the Mexican side in Anapra and come to the wall looking for tips because the poverty s terrible in Anapra. We always bring dollars with us but it is not permitted to give them food or clothing.

Continuing along the wall, we found a group of Mexican soldiers. They came from all parts of the country – Tabasco, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Puebla, for example. They said that migrants are not coming across the wall but that many of them – women with children, older people as well as younger – are trying to cross over Monte Cristo Rey and that they, the soldiers have to rescue them. Having been a mountain climber for many years, I believe that trying to cross this rugged mountain would be a real act of desperation.

But that’s life on the frontier.

As we were leaving, we saw another Border Patrol vehicle and stopped to talk to the agent who turned out to be a woman. What was she doing? She said that she didn’t work in this area, that her zone was closer to El Paso but that she had come here to help the kids on the Mexican side- Anapra. Then she began handing dollars to these kids across the wall.

For many people, especially members of my political party, the Democrats, the Border Patrol has a terrible reputation. It is said that they mistreat migrants. But I think it’s important to keep in mind the way we Americans increasingly view other groups as stereotypes; we are not interested in the personal qualities of a person like this good-hearted woman. For Sherry and me, it was a highly emotional moment to join with her and give these gifts of dollars – Christmas gifts – to these young kids of Anapra. It was a very special New Year’s Eve.