On Mother’s Day weekend in May 2019, without warning, US Border Patrol started dropping hundreds of legal asylum seeking families in Deming, NM (50 miles south of Grant County/Silver City). Most without food, adequate clothing, and in poor medical condition. Our UU congregation immediately began supporting the emergency shelter originally setup at the county fairgrounds and an old WWII airplane hangar. We were the collection site for our county and sent provisions every week. Weekly emails started going out to several hundred people with lists of immediate needs. With those donations we packed emergency food bags (GoBags) as well as sent clothing, toys, medical supplies and food for the shelter.

And then, all of that ceased in fall 2019 when the border was “shut,” and the Remain in Mexico (MPP) was strictly enforced. The shelter for asylum seekers in Palomas MX (just across the border from Deming) held a relatively stable number of guests waiting and waiting and waiting… and we transferred our support to them.

In June 2020 Border Patrol started expelling dozens (and now hundreds) of Title 42 migrants (preventing anyone from entering the US due to COVID 19) daily into Palomas (a small town of 5000). These guests might only stay 1 or 2 days, but most were in dire need of food, sleep and first aid before they decide where to go next. And because of the pandemic they had to be kept separate from the asylum seekers who were quarantined. Two totally separate shelters have since opened for these expelled persons, including a 5 month old baby recently. We remain their primary source of supplies and the number has climbed skyward. In January 2023 alone, close to 2000 people were expelled into Palomas, with half of them getting a place to sleep and food through the fire station/shelters. We pay stipends to a team in Palomas to provide for them.

In addition, in early 2022, the Deming shelter on the US side of the border re-opened for asylum seekers heading to sponsors in the US! They too need food, warm clothing and care. We supply them as well as Palomas as best we can. What we are able to do is dependent on donations from our wider community… locally, nationally and internationally.

Although there are needs across the entire southern border, we remain committed to our corner of New Mexico/Mexico which generally gets overlooked in the bigger picture. In doing so we can have a bigger impact in these smaller communities. We remain a totally volunteer group with all donations and monetary support coming from individuals. If you would like to receive our biweekly emails, contact Barbara Gabioud at bgabioud@gmail.com.

Additional note to our UU listserv: If you would like to help us on a collection Wednesday or be a driver to Deming, please let me know.  The generosity of our community will warm your heart. 

Note:  Driven by the hope for a better future, many migrants who are being expelled from the US will continue to try to re-enter, regardless of the dangers and hardships they face.

5/12/2023

 

“OMG I can’t believe…” I’m not sure how to finish this sentence. My choices are “that Title 42 really lifted,” or “that we’ve been at this for 4 years!”

I waited a couple extra days this week to be sure the first OMG really happened. It almost happened several times before and got “delayed” at the last minute. Although at the last minute this time, we did have a Florida court filing (of course it would be Florida) against expedited release of non-risk asylum seekers, and White House tweakings to its new rulings about how to legally seek asylum (which are also being contested by the ACLU and other humanitarian groups). All in all, it has been, at least so far, as my husband Ron described it, a Chicken Little moment. One New York Times headline was “Crowds but not Chaos at the Border.” In fact, if you watched any of the video of El Paso this morning playing as Ted Cruz ranted about the “massive invasion at our southern border” you saw people in neat lines, like elementary school kids lined up after recess. El Paso, Las Cruces and Deming are as prepared as they can be on this side of the border. Palomas is ready too. And there are lots of people! But stay tuned and pay attention to the news. There are lots of “little words” used that really make a difference; and a lot of discrepancies between media sources, even the ones you trust.

So, my second OMG…we have been at our Border Justice Project since Mother’s Day weekend 2019!!  I didn’t think it would be four weeks, much less four years. Probably best that we didn’t know. When we started, we had two collections every week for Deming and hundreds of Grant County folks volunteered hours and hours of their time at the shelters down there. You can read more about the early days on our website. And since COVID hit early on, we never had a chance to really celebrate everyone who has participated, from here, there, and everywhere. Stay tuned for my next email but put the afternoon of June 4^th on your calendar.

Photo below is from our booth last Saturday at Give Grandly.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by! It was great to meet so many new people. Thanks also for donations which continue at the Give Grandly website (see below) until May 22^nd.

 OUR NEXT COLLECTION IS WEDNESDAY, May 17^th, from 3:00 to 3:30. 

 PALOMAS needs (mainly single men but not always)~ Many guests are arriving with need for medical care.  Most needed are ACE BANDAGES AND COTTON GAUZE WRAPPINGS. And for the 800 GoBags we pack and send every month CRACKER PACKS, WELCH’S FRUIT SNACKS, GRANOLA BARS, and small cans of VIENNA SAUSAGES. Also, men’s shorts for them to wear while their clothes are laundering.

DEMING needs (always families) ~ LIGHT WEIGHT JACKETS and CLOTHING. And people always need sneaker length SHOELACES!!! Children's needs include DIAPERS sizes 3-6, BABY WIPES, BABY FORMULA, GERBER BABY FOOD POUCHES, BABY BOTTLES and SUERO/PEDIASURE. Adult guests need CUP-OF-NOODLES, SOCKS AND NEW UNDERWEAR in all sizes. Women and girls need HAIR TIES and ELASTICS in all sizes.

We collect donations on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, 3:00-3:30, at the UUFSC building, 3845 N Swan (not our mailing address) in Silver City. You can drive straight down on either side of our collection vehicles. We will get you unloaded and then you can drive out easily. If you are bringing any of the above GoBag items, please let the crew unloading your car know about them. If you would like to read my last 3 posts they are available on our UU website uufsc.com. It might give you ideas of other needed supplies. Click on the Palomas/Deming 2023 link on the left side of the page. Or you can dig deeper on our fellowship’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UUFSC all the way back to May 2019 when our project started.

To contribute financially you can mail checks made out to UUFSC (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City) with ‘Border' in the memo line to UUFSC, PO Box 4034, Silver City, NM 88062. For now you can also donate on our Give Grandly page https://www.givegrandly.org/organizations/unitarian-universalist-fellowship-of-silver-city Thank you from all of us for your trust and support ~Barbara Gabioud

 

4/26/2023

 
Today’s email is way different than usual! Generally I give you some news (which if you reply to this email I can still give you some interesting links) then an update of the needs our shelters have for our in-person collection the next week…with a mention of financial contributions at the very end. But today I am going to concentrate on how important financial contributions are!  And amazingly, many of you get that. Sometimes people will come through our collection line and sheepishly hand us a $20 bill, apologizing for not having gone to the store. That $20 buys a lot of underwear in Mexico! We try to spend as much money in Palomas as possible, supporting the local economy and in turn gaining support for the shelters. We pay stipends to 4 people in Palomas (3 of which are their primary income), and they count on that money! We financially support Colores United (the shelter for asylum seekers in Deming) as best we can so they can provide discretionary medical appointments, children’s activities, etc.; in addition to two carloads of donations to them every two weeks. In Palomas you have provided for a new bathroom, heating, air conditioning, beds, a washer and dryer, cookstoves, birthday parties, meals and GoBags, medical transportation and supplies…and the list goes on and on. Sometimes I’m nervous that we’re going to run out, and then angels come through, without our even asking.

This year we have a new avenue for giving. On Saturday, May 6th, from 9-2, the Grant County Community Foundation is sponsoring Give Grandly, a day celebrating 64 non-profits in our community! And the UUFSC Border Justice Project is one of them for the first time. It will be a wonderful event in downtown Silver City with booths for every organization, music, entertainment, food and drink. Please come by our booth and say hello! We would love to meet every one of you. We’ll have hundreds of photos to share with you, and try to answer questions you may have. We’ll have an activity for children, making WELCOME cards for families who are entering the United States for the first time. For those of you who live too far away or have other commitments, Give Grandly is also online. From April 22-May 22 and here’s the link:

https://www.givegrandly.org/organizations/unitarian-universalist-fellowship-of-silver-city. You can learn more about our story and donating is easy. Please share it with friends.

   You may not be able to read the two photos below very well but it’s the accounting for some of our monetary expenses. Our whole project is built on trust. We trust the people on the ground who do the daily work and we hope you trust us.

And now, not to ignore those of you who still visit us every other week with incredible donations, here’s that information in brief:

 
OUR NEXT COLLECTION IS WEDNESDAY, May 3rd, from 3:00 to 3:30. Please refer to previous emails for more comprehensive needs.

PALOMAS needs ~ Many guests are arriving with need for medical care.  Most needed are ACE BANDAGES AND COTTON GAUZE WRAPPINGS. And for the 800 GoBags we pack and send every month CRACKER PACKS, WELCH’S FRUIT SNACKS, GRANOLA BARS, and small cans of VIENNA SAUSAGES. 

DEMING needs ~ LIGHTER WEIGHT JACKETS and CLOTHING. Children's needs include DIAPERS sizes 3-6, BABY WIPES, BABY FORMULA, GERBER BABY FOOD POUCHES, BABY BOTTLES and SUERO/PEDIASURE. 

We collect donations on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, 3:00-3:30, at the UUFSC building, 3845 N Swan (not our mailing address) in Silver City. You can drive straight down on either side of our collection vehicles. We will get you unloaded and then you can drive out easily. If you are bringing any of the above GoBag items, please let the crew unloading your car know about them. If you would like to read my last 3 posts they are available on our UU website uufsc.com. It might give you ideas of other needed supplies. Click on the Palomas/Deming 2023 link on the left side of the page. Or you can dig deeper on our fellowship’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UUFSC all the way back to May 2019 when our project started.

To contribute financially you can mail checks made out to UUFSC (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City) with ‘Border' in the memo line to UUFSC, PO Box 4034, Silver City, NM 88062. For now you can also donate on our Give Grandly page https://www.givegrandly.org/organizations/unitarian-universalist-fellowship-of-silver-city ~Thank you from all of us for your trust and support ~Barbara Gabioud

4/12/2023

 

Greetings from our collection team last Wednesday! Sandra brought the handprinted heart banner as a thank you from the migrants in Palomas. We always have an enthusiastic group. This last time we even had visitors from northern Michigan helping us! And yes, that’s me with the walker following a hip replacement the week before. 

Movement north across the border into migrant shelters in the US is picking up a little. Deming has been seeing almost no Spanish speaking families. Many from Brazil and Turkey. Most stay 2-3 nights before moving on to their sponsors.

I am very proud of our NM legislature and governor. Our legislative session has ended and a bill was signed into law establishing a special immigrant juvenile classification for abused, neglected and abandoned foreign migrants, and extends those rights to minors who fear returning to their home country. This stands in stark contrast to the Florida legislature and governor who are planning to crackdown on undocumented migrants, and expose people to felony charges for sheltering, hiring, or transporting migrants, among other hateful proposals. (I’m sorry if you live in Florida) The oddest one to me is it would prevent undocumented immigrants from being admitted to the bar in Florida. How often does that happen?? Or does it mean the other kind of bar… 

OUR NEXT COLLECTION IS WEDNESDAY, April 19th, from 3:00 to 3:30. 

PALOMAS needs ~ If anyone has a MEN’S ELECTRIC HAIR TRIMMER the shelter could use it. They had one but it “disappeared”. Now that the weather is getting warmer SHORTS are needed for shelter guests to wear while their clothes are being laundered. And for the 800 GoBags we pack and send every month CRACKER PACKS, WELCH’S FRUIT SNACKS, GRANOLA BARS, and small cans of VIENNA SAUSAGES. 

DEMING needs ~ All guests are transitioning to LIGHTER WEIGHT JACKETS and CLOTHING so no more winter wear. Children's needs include DIAPERS sizes 3-6, BABY WIPES, BABY FORMULA, GERBER BABY FOOD POUCHES, BABY BOTTLES and SUERO/PEDIASURE. Adult guests need CUP-OF-NOODLES, SOCKS and NEW UNDERWEAR in all sizes. 

We collect donations on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, 3:00-3:30, at the UUFSC building, 3845 N Swan (not our mailing address) in Silver City. You can drive straight down on either side of our collection vehicles. We will get you unloaded and then you can drive out easily. If you are bringing any of the above GoBag items, please let the crew unloading your car know about them. If you would like to read my last 3 posts they are available on our UU website uufsc.com. It might give you ideas of other needed supplies. Click on the Palomas/Deming 2023 link on the left side of the page. Or you can dig deeper on our fellowship’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UUFSC all the way back to May 2019 when our project started. To contribute financially you can mail checks made out to UUFSC (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City) with ‘Border' in the memo line to UUFSC, PO Box 4034, Silver City, NM 88062.

 https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/immigration/border-towns-struggle-with-the-thousands-of-migrants-immediately-deported-under-cdc-order/