Greater Philadelphia Branch Sends Delegation to Brownsville and Matamoros

Members of Team Brownsville-Philly and Team Brownsville prepare to cross the bridge with wagons of food for residents of the tent city. Photo credit: Tina Shelton.

By Tina Shelton
Co-chair, Greater Philadelphia Branch

March 2020

With Judy Elson’s guidance, the Greater Philadelphia Branch learned about the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, and the work that Team Brownsville and other organizations are doing to meet the needs of persons who have traveled to Brownsville to seek asylum in the United States.

Thanks to a WILPF US mini-grant, a delegation was able to travel to Brownsville, Texas, on February 6, 2020, to volunteer with the nonprofit Team Brownsville for several days.

Peace activists know that many people who have left Central America and are now stranded in Mexico, have fled because the policies of the United States have contributed to the violence and instability in their countries. While in Brownsville, the delegation, which included four members from the Philadelphia area and one from Maine, prepped meals with World Central Kitchen, which just began their service there in late January. They work to provide dignity along with a hot plate of food. We were very impressed by their professionalism.

We also coordinated with Team Brownsville to carry meals across the border on wagons, and served about 1,000 residents of the tent encampment. Members of our “Team Brownsville-Philly” served dinner each of the five nights we were in Brownsville.

With the lead of the dedicated Team Brownsville members, we also worked at the weekly school and provided meals and encouragement to a few people who had been released from detention and were at the bus stop on their way to meet sponsors in the U.S.

We served with many volunteers, some of whom came from different parts of the country, people like us who have also been moved by the stories of the immigrants looking for safety and refuge. We met activists who have joined Josh Rubin, the founder of Witness at the Border, a group that is raising the awareness of the plight of the detainees and the residents of the camp. Formerly “Witness: Tornillo,” Josh and his powerful team have put pressure on the policy of locking up children. Two detention camps no longer house children after Josh and his cohorts provided witness to what was happening.

Joining in the “subversive act of seeing” was just one part of our education at the border. As Barbara West of Maine WILPF concluded, “Words cannot describe the anguish of families stuck in tents for months, or the devotion of Brownsville volunteers who have been caring for them for a year and a half. And our language is so debased that the rules requiring migrants to wait in tents in Mexico while awaiting action on their asylum applications is called ‘Migrant Protection Protocols.’ “

For more information, contact: Tina Shelton, tinades@verizon.net. Or view our Greater Philadelphia Branch Facebook page for more details about our travel experience.