Author: Kent Paterson

THE BRIDGE OF STONES: A MIGRANT CHRISTMAS STORY

January 9, 2023

Carefully treading a crossing of slippery stones strung across the shallow Rio Grande between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, trickles of migrants climbed up the embankment on the U.S. side.

Joining with others who had crossed from down river, the asylum seekers waited peacefully to surrender to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. Watching the evolving ritual were a gaggle of Mexican journalists and local residents. A young man from Venezuela with one leg hopped around on crutches while a pair of municipal cops observed the drama from a parked truck. Standing atop the Mexican embankment, a young girl gazed across the narrow river at the forming line of asylum seekers of all ages, tears welling up in her sad eyes.

Mexican Workers Fight for their Lives on the Border

April 30, 2020

As the COVID-19 coronavirus began walloping Mexico, wildcat strikes by assembly plant workers concerned about their health and their futures rippled across the country during March and April.

Los refugiados de México

November 9, 2019

Los refugiados mexicanos, provenientes de los estados de San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Michoacán y Guerrero, ocupan una cuadra entera cerca de la entrada del puente, a sólo algunos metros del monumento que erigió la comunidad a las víctimas de feminicidio de Ciudad Juárez, conocido como La Cruz de Clavos.

Mexico’s Refugees

October 23, 2019

For the past year, Ciudad Juarez has been a flashpoint of the migrant and refugee humanitarian crisis gripping the U.S.-Mexico border. Now hundreds of other people-mainly women and children-are camped out at the international bridge, but this latest group of refugees is Mexican.

En la frontera, los pequeños agricultores enfrentan grandes problemas de migración, cambio climático y política alimentaria

November 21, 2017

Ciudad Juárez en la frontera entre Chihuahua y Texas, ha sido históricamente un nexo de migración y flujos de capital global. Ahora que la presidencia de Donald Trump revivió los debates internacionales sobre ambos, la organización internacional de pequeños agricultores, Vía Campesina, se reunió en todo el mundo a principios de noviembre para examinar las conexiones entre el trabajo con salarios bajos, la migración y el medio ambiente.

On the Border, Small Farmers Tackle Big Issues of Migration, Climate Change, Food Policy

November 20, 2017

Ciudad Juarez on the Chihuahua-Texas border has historically been a nexus of migration and global capital flows. Now that the presidency of Donald Trump has revived international debates on both, the international small farmers’ organization, Via Campesina, gathered from around the world there in early November to examine the connections between low-wage work, migration and the environment.

On May Day, Protestors Show Transnational Unity As Tensions Heighten

May 16, 2017

May Day is a transnational event in the Paso del Norte borderlands of El Paso-Ciudad Juarez-southern New Mexico. At this year’s demonstrations, U.S. and Mexican activists joined together to denounce Trump administration immigration policies, current and looming wars, Peña Nieto administration economic and labor reforms, femicides, the forced disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa college students, attacks on workers, and Mexico’s pending internal security law.