Border Justice Project
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UUFSC Border Justice Project History (as of January 2024)
On Mother’s Day weekend in May 2019, US Border Patrol began dropping hundreds of legal asylum-seeking families in Deming, NM, 50 miles southeast of Silver City/Grant County NM and just 35 miles north of the border. Most families arrived without food, adequate clothing, and in poor medical condition. Our UU congregation immediately began supporting the emergency shelter initially set up at the county fairgrounds and an old WWII airplane hangar. Our fellowship building served as the collection site for our county, sending provisions every week. We began sending weekly emails to several hundred people listing immediate needs and packed emergency food bags (GoBags) and sent clothing, toys, medical supplies, and food to the shelter.
This activity ceased in fall 2019 when the border was “shut” and Remain in Mexico (MPP) was strictly enforced. The shelter for asylum seekers in Palomas, Mexico, 35 miles south of Deming and right on the border, housed a stable number of families. We shifted our support to this location. In June 2020, Border Patrol began expelling hundreds of Title 42 migrants daily into Palomas. These migrants, primarily single adult men, usually stayed 1 or 2 days but were in dire need of food, sleep, and first aid. Due to the pandemic, they had to be kept separate from the quarantined asylum seekers. We helped outfit the Palomas fire station with bathrooms, showers, beds, heating/cooling, and cooking facilities, and paid for staff to cook, clean, and maintain the shelter. In January 2023 alone, close to 2000 people were expelled into Palomas, with half receiving shelter and food through the fire station. Throughout the pandemic, this shelter was our primary focus.
In addition, in early 2022, the Deming shelter on the US side of the border re-opened in a limited capacity for asylum-seeking families (over half of them are children). There they arranged transportation to sponsors in the US. They too needed food, warm clothing, and care. We continued to supply them as best we could with biweekly collections of food, clothing, personal hygiene supplies, meds, toys, books, travel supplies, as well as funds for many things FEMA didn’t cover.
What we are able to do is dependent on donations from our wider community… locally, nationally and internationally. In 2023 alone, the Deming shelter, maintained by Colores United, aided over 9400 guests (4745 of them children).
We continued to pack 200 GoBags (emergency food bags) each week that were sent to either Palomas or Deming dependent on need. We sent more than 10,000 in 2024.
With the end to Title 42, Border Patrol discontinued expulsions of migrants into Palomas. However, we maintained the shelter and care for single adults and families at the fire station shelter, who were attempting to make legal entry into the US using the CBP One app.
But as soon as Donald Trump was inaugurated, he took down the CBP One app making even legal migration impossible. We maintain internet at the fire station but no longer provide much financial support as there are no guests.
We currently are working with Silver City Indivisible and provide financial support for the Immigration team with flyers, red cards and other expenses as needed. We have also helped a Search and Rescue team with some expenses. Other than that, we watch and wait as do all shelters and immigration support groups on both sides of the border.
We remain committed to our corner of New Mexico/Mexico which generally gets overlooked in the bigger picture. We remain a totally volunteer group with all donations and monetary support coming from individuals. If you would like to receive our monthly emails, contact Barbara Gabioud at bgabioud@gmail.com.