Angels at the Border - Seeking Refuge Thomas E. Franklin

Volunteer Groups Offer Much Needed Assistance | 2018

Go to Photo Gallery

At the Tijuana-San Diego border, there are dozens of Non-profit organizations (NGOs), global grassroots organizations, and ad-hoc volunteers that provide immigrant families and refugees with assistance. These agencies help ease the pressures on host countries by providing humanitarian aid, comfort, and friendship.

Border Angels is one of them. Also known as Angeles De La Frontera, the San Diego-based organization serves the immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs. Founded in 1986 by former Major League Baseball executive Enrique Morones, the non-profit focuses on human rights, immigration reform, and the prevention of immigrant deaths along the border. Border Angels operates on a grassroots level and has more than 2,000 volunteers nationwide with chapters in six states and Mexico.

With the influx of migrants from the caravans from Central America, combined with stricter policies towards migrants by the Trump Administration, and the backlogging of asylum hearings, Tijuana is teeming with migrants seeking entry into the United States. In June 2019, Mexican officials said they expect to see as many as 100,000 asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala this year. The shelters in Tijuana are overflowing with men, women, and children who are in desperate need of clothing, food, water, and hygiene products, and resources are thin.

Although pro-immigrant groups like Border Angels believe the U.S. should welcome migrants fleeing conflict in their homeland, or seeking better economic opportunities, immigration critics often counter that unauthorized immigrants should be barred because they do not follow U.S. laws, and they take resources away from tax-paying Americans citizens.

The Border Angels community center in Tijuana coordinates a Caravan of Love outreach mission each Saturday. Volunteers sign up on their website, then meet up at their Sherman Heights office where they bring supplies, load up their vehicles, and carpool over the border to Tijuana, visiting a handful of shelters. Hugo Castro leads the caravan to drop off clothes, shoes, and hygiene products; supplies that are in demand at shelters around the border city.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: Border Angels volunteers give Isabela Murillo and her three young boys supplies after the single mother just arrived at the border after traveling for two months in a migrant caravan from Honduras. The Border Angels volunteers brought them clean clothes, shoes, and hygiene products then directed them to the nearby shelter, where they would spend the night before trying to apply for asylum in the U.S.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03/09/2019: Border Angels volunteer Destany Zavala lets one of the young girls (name withheld) playfully brush her long hair at the Tijuana migrant shelter Movimiento Juventud 2000. The shelter houses about 150 migrants, mostly families, who sleep in camping tents on a concrete floor, crammed together side by side. The shelter has been housing migrants, mainly Central Americans, since mid-2017. The Border Angels volunteers brought to the shelter clean clothes, under garments, socks, and hygiene products. All the shelters in Tijuana are overcrowded, and undersupplied. Most plan to wait in Tijuana until they are assigned a court date for their asylum petitions plan to put their names on the informal waiting list for U.S. Others will cross the border illegally.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: The Border Angels distributed clothing, under garments, and personal hygiene products to women staying in the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter. Each week, the Border Angels volunteers bring supplies to the shelters in Tijuana, which are vastly overcrowded, and undersupplied. Most migrants here are hoping for asylum in the U.S. and are waiting for their assigned court date.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: Isabela Murillo, with her sons Patric, 12, Jose, 14, and Mateo, 3, of Honduras, sit on the floor of a cafe in Tijuana that offers free food to migrants. Along with her other son Patric, not pictured, they just arrived at the border after traveling for two months in a migrant caravan from Central America. The Border Angels volunteers brought them clean clothes, shoes, and hygiene products then helped them get to the nearby shelter, where they would spend the night before trying to apply for asylum in the U.S.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: Isabela Murillo carries supplies given to her by the Border Angels volunteers brought them clean clothes, shoes, and hygiene products then helped them get to the nearby shelter, where they would spend the night before trying to apply for asylum in the U.S.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: Jose Murillo, 14, carries supplies given to him by the Border Angels volunteers, after he and his mother and brothers just arrived at the border after traveling for two months in a migrant caravan from Honduras. The Border Angels volunteers brought them clean clothes, shoes, and hygiene products then directed them to the nearby shelter, where they would spend the night before trying to apply for asylum in the U.S.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: Border Angels volunteer Marco Greenberg carries supplies from the nonprofit's office in Tijuana. The Border Angels volunteers brought clothes, shoes, and hygiene products supplies to migrant shelters around the border city., Greenberg lives in New York and decided to volunteer his time while he was in California on vacation with his family.

TIJUANA, CA 03-12-2019: Mexican resident Efren Galindo looks towards Pacific ocean in the late afternoon sunlight, while standing in front of the Border Angels office in Tijuana. Galindo was held for ransom and badly beaten and left for dead years ago by Mexican gang members after he was duped by a coyote he paid off to enter the U.S. illegally. He says that stricter immigration laws and crackdowns will only lead to more violence and criminal activity, and will not stop the flow of illegal migrants entering the U.S.

TIJUANA, CA 03/12/2019: Border Angels volunteer Miguel Barraza wears a tee shirt wears a "I'm Mexican, not Mexican't" tee shirt outside the office La Playa, in Tijuana.
Border Angels is a nonprofit that has been leading humanitarian efforts such as “water drops” in the desert for migrants for over 20-years. In 2019, two border aid volunteers were sentenced to 15 months of probation, must pay fines for dropping off water and food intended for migrants crossing through a protected desert area in southern Arizona.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: Hugo Castro, a Border Angels board member and longtime migrant and human rights activist, waits for volunteers to arrive at the Border Angels offices in San Diego. He was preparing to lead them an a relief caravan into Tijuana to deliver supplies to migrant shelters. Also known as Angeles De La Frontera, Border Angels is a human rights organization that serves the immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-09-2019: An artistic collection of protest signs are on display outside the Border Angels office. Border Angels (Angeles De La Frontera) is a San Diego-based human rights organization that serves the immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs. They also focus on migrant rights, immigration reform, and the prevention of immigrant deaths along the border. Border Angels has more than 2000 volunteers nationwide.

Water Drops and the Cemetery of the Forgotten

Holtville, CA

Castro also took a group of volunteers to the Cemetery of the Forgotten, a Potter’s Field for unidentified migrants located behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in rural Holtville, about 130 miles east of San Diego in the Imperial Valley. In an unmarked dirt lot behind the main cemetery, the remains of hundreds of migrants who died crossing the border are a stark reminder of the danger’s migrants face.

Visitors walked about the dirt field, some knelt and repositioned painted wooden crosses with spiritual messages that blew over in the wind. The signs, written in both English and Spanish, contained messages such as “keep families together” or ninguno más “not one more.” Castro and the volunteers recited a prayer together before leaving the cemetery in silence.

Cemetery of the Forgotten is one of the few known resting places in the U.S. for unidentified migrants who died while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Castro says many of the migrants either succumb to exposure to the extreme temperatures or from dehydration in the California desert while others may have drowned in drainage ditches or rivers. Roughly 250 unidentified individuals are buried in the 3-acre dirt lot, each grave is marked with a small stone inscribed with a row number and the words “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.” Castro says the unidentified migrants are buried here in anonymity, an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the U.S.

Castro also takes volunteers on “water drops” to rural areas near the border where they scatter water containers under sagebrush and along trails that migrants typically use as an act of humanitarian aid. The conditions in the arid California desert are extreme; temperatures often dip into the twenties overnight and reach the upper nineties in the daytime. In the winter months, they leave other life-saving supplies, such as blankets, socks, and hand warmers.

The Border Angels organization has been leading these missions for over 20 -years, but, as political tensions over illegal immigration reach a pitch, the drops have become increasingly controversial. Morones says that by leaving water for the migrants, they are saving lives. More than 11,000 migrants have died in the desert since 1994, he says, and their leading cause of death is dehydration.

HOLTVILLE, CA 03/10/2019: Hugo Castro of Border Angels leads a group of students from the University of Utah into the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA, where the “Cemetery of the Forgotten” is hidden in a dirt field behind the cemetery. There, the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the . The unidentified migrants died in the Imperial Valley desert or mountains are buried in anonymity, an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the U.S. where the flow of unauthorized immigrants has been a source of debate for decades. Hugo Castro and a group students from the University of Utah, who were on a tour of the cemetery and were volunteering for the Border Angels organization, fixed crosses that had fallen over, took photos, and said a group prayer.

HOLTVILLE, CA 03-10-2019: The “Cemetery of the Forgotten” is one of the few known resting places in the U.S. for unidentified migrants who died while attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. About 250 unidentified individuals are buried in the 3-acre dirt lot, and ach grave is marked with a small stone inscribed with a row number and the words “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.”

HOLTVILLE, CA 03/10/2019: University of Utah student Joy Kavapalu looks at the rows of unmarked graves at the “Cemetery of the Forgotten” where the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA. The unidentified migrants died in the Imperial Valley desert or mountains are buried in anonymity, an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the U.S. where the flow of unauthorized immigrants has been a source of debate for decades. Hugo Castro and a group students from the University of Utah, who were on a tour of the cemetery and were volunteering for the Border Angels organization, fixed crosses that had fallen over, took photos, and said a group prayer.

HOLTVILLE, CA 03-10-2019: Hugo Castro and the volunteers recite a prayer together before leaving the “Cemetery of the Forgotten,” a Potters Field where the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA.

HOLTVILLE, CA 03/10/2019: A group of students from the University of Utah visit the “Cemetery of the Forgotten” where the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA. The unidentified migrants died in the Imperial Valley desert or mountains are buried in anonymity, an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the U.S. where the flow of unauthorized immigrants has been a source of debate for decades. The students, who were volunteering for the Border Angels organization, fixed crosses that had fallen over, took photos, and said a group prayer with Border Angels' Hugo Castro.

HOLTVILLE, CA 03/10/2019: Wes Markusfeld plants a wooden cross next to an unmarked grave at the “Cemetery of the Forgotten,” where the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA.

HOLTVILLE, CA 03/10/2019: Border Angels volunteer Amba Guerguerian holds a wooden cross that reads "vives en el cielo y las nubes," or "live in heaven and clouds" at the “Cemetery of the Forgotten.” She placed the cross next to an unmarked grave after it blew over in the wind. The “Cemetery of the Forgotten” is where the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA. The unidentified migrants died in the Imperial Valley desert or mountains are buried in anonymity, an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the U.S. where the flow of unauthorized immigrants has been a source of debate for decades. Hugo Castro and a group students from the University of Utah, who were on a tour of the cemetery and were volunteering for the Border Angels organization, fixed crosses that had fallen over, took photos, and said a group prayer.

TIJUANA, MEXICO 03-10-2019: "No one is illegal" says a message on one of the wooden crosses at the “Cemetery of the Forgotten” where the remains of hundreds of unidentified immigrants are buried in a dirt lot behind the Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, CA. The unidentified migrants died in the Imperial Valley desert or mountains are buried in anonymity, an extreme reflection of the often desperate attempts by people to enter the U.S. where the flow of unauthorized immigrants has been a source of debate for decades. Hugo Castro and a group students from the University of Utah, who were on a tour of the cemetery and were volunteering for the Border Angels organization, fixed crosses that had fallen over, took photos, and said a group prayer.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA 03/10/2019: The U.S-Mexico border wall can be seen in an area near Jacumba Springs, where a Border Angels led team of volunteers, including a group of students from University of Utah, and carried gallons of water into the Imperial Valley in southeastern Southern California near the Mexico border and hid the plastic bottles scattered along trails that undocumented migrants often take after crossing into the California. Along the trails, discarded items such as makeshift foot coverings migrants use to avoid leaving footprints could be seen as well as other discarded clothes and remnants of campfires. The conditions here are extreme, often were windy and cold at night, and extremely ward during the daytime.
Border Angels is a nonprofit that has been leading humanitarian efforts such as “water drops” in the desert for migrants for over 20-years. In 2019, two border aid volunteers were sentenced to 15 months of probation, must pay fines for dropping off water and food intended for migrants crossing through a protected desert area in southern Arizona.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA 03/10/2019: Border Angels led a team of volunteers, including a group of students from University of Utah, and carried gallons of water into the Imperial Valley in southeastern Southern California near the Mexico border and hid the plastic bottles scattered along trails that undocumented migrants often take after crossing into the California. Along the trails, discarded items such as makeshift foot coverings migrants use to avoid leaving footprints could be seen as well as other discarded clothes and remnants of campfires. The conditions here are extreme, often were windy and cold at night, and extremely ward during the daytime.
Border Angels is a nonprofit that has been leading humanitarian efforts such as “water drops” in the desert for migrants for over 20-years. In 2019, two border aid volunteers were sentenced to 15 months of probation, must pay fines for dropping off water and food intended for migrants crossing through a protected desert area in southern Arizona.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA 03/10/2019: Joy Kavapalu and other students from University of Utah load up with water bottles as they joined a Border Angels on a “water drop” in the desert for migrants.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA 03/10/2019: Amba Guerguerian and Wes Markusfeld were part of a Border Angels team of volunteers that carried gallons of water into the Imperial Valley in southeastern Southern California near the Mexico border and hid the plastic bottles scattered along trails that undocumented migrants often take after crossing into the California. Along the trails, discarded items such as makeshift foot coverings migrants use to avoid leaving footprints could be seen as well as other discarded clothes and remnants of campfires. The conditions here are extreme, often were windy and cold at night, and extremely ward during the daytime.
Border Angels is a nonprofit that has been leading humanitarian efforts such as “water drops” in the desert for migrants for over 20-years. In 2019, two border aid volunteers were sentenced to 15 months of probation, must pay fines for dropping off water and food intended for migrants crossing through a protected desert area in southern Arizona.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA 03-10-2019: A team of students from University of Utah walk along a roadway in the Imperial Valley near the southern border, where they joined a Border Angels leader Hugo Castro on a “water drop” in the desert for migrants, where they scattered water containers under sagebrush and along trails that migrants use. “Water drops” are one of Border Angels leading humanitarian efforts. These are hikes to remote areas where they leave water containers for migrants crossing into the U.S.