Time - USA (2021-03-15)

82 Time March 15/March 22, 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

WOMEN and the PANDEMIC

claims of violence against asylum seekers
under MPP. Xiomara, who says she fled
gang members in El Salvador and is a
survivor of sexual assault, says giving
birth triggered the difficult traumas she
was grappling with. “I felt very strange;
I’d look at [my daughter] and it was
almost like I didn’t want her,” Xiomara
says, citing a common symptom of
postpartum depression. Therapy at San
Juan Apóstol helped her, she says, “and
four months after [the baby] was born,
I was able to be affectionate with her.”
The support of the other women in
the program can be just as valuable.
Isa, 32, an asylum seeker from Hondu-
ras, first found refuge with her young
son at a shelter housing roughly 1,300
people in Juárez, but food was scarce,
she says, and overcrowding kept her on
constant alert. Seven months ago, Isa
was brought to live at San Juan Após-
tol, and three months later, she gave
birth to a healthy baby girl. The women
gathered around, oohing and aahing
over the baby and celebrating her birth.
Each day they’re up by 6 a.m., feeding
the babies and rotating shifts of laundry,

cooking and washing dishes while the children play together. If

one feels overwhelmed, others serve as a buttress, helping her

with childcare and breastfeeding, and sometimes even step-

ping in as wet nurses. They often break out in song; “El Color

de Tus Ojos” (The Color of Your Eyes) is one of Isa’s favorites.

All told, Las Zadas has supported about 120 women, and

helped bring an estimated 68 babies safely into the world.

Despite the care anD community, Isa says the wait in Mex-

ico has made her anxious. On Feb. 19, the Biden Administration

began processing some asylum seekers in Tijuana into the U.S.,

the first step in unraveling MPP. Slowly, an estimated 25,000

asylum seekers, including Isa, will be able to enter the country.

“Now that we know we’re so close we feel even more des-

perate,” Isa says in Spanish. “We really don’t know how much

longer we’ll have to be here.” She hopes to reunite with a friend

in New York, who has a safe place for her to stay while her

asylum case is decided. Her ultimate goal is to afford a good

education for her children. “I want them to have a future,”

she says. “Any future that they want, and security as well.”

Xiomara’s case is more complicated. While MPP is winding

down, expulsions continue at the border, with no clear answer

from the government whether these migrants will have a sec-

ond chance to apply for asylum. She wonders aloud if partici-

pating in this interview might help her chances.

“First and foremost, all I want is safety for myself and my

children. I have faith in God that things will get better,” Xiomara

says. “That’s all I can do.” 

●

Shelter coordinator Breceda cooks soup

with migrant women in the kitchen

Asylum seekers

currently waiting to

enter the U.S. from

Mexico under MPP

Number of

“expulsions” that

have taken place

at the U.S.-Mexico

border due to COVID-

19 restrictions

Public claims of

violence against

asylum seekers

under MPP

Babies born to

mothers in the

Las Zadas

program at the

U.S.-Mexico border

The

BORDER

CRISIS

by the

numbers

29k

444k

68

1.5k