This is the first in a series of brief reports from my trip to the US-Mexico border for On Earth Peace.

This video shows the call put out by Joshua Rubin for people to come to Brownsville/Matamoros to witness the results of the Migrant Protection Protocols program started in 2019. Under MPP, asylum seekers who attempt to enter the United States at the U.S.-Mexico border may be required to stay in Mexico while immigration courts make a decision regarding their case.

Josh and friends are veterans of border actions. They were instrumental in getting migrant youth detention centers shut down in Tornillo, Texas and Homestead, Florida. Now they are focusing their witness on the treatment of asylum seekers at the border.

• https://www.witnessattheborder.org/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/339957239906299/

They chose this location because it has one of the processing courts on the U.S. side, and a large migrant camp on the Mexico side. People come from dozens of states all throughout the U.S. to participate in this witness action, and to visit the people in the camps.

My reports will begin with the complex system the U.S. Administration put in place to deter and deny migrant claims, and then move on to the Matamoros camp and the wonderful people there.

border station - u.s. side

witnessing in the park