1/11/20

By Lee Goodman

What’s different from the last time I was in Matamoros, Mexico, where asylum seekers wait at the border with the U.S.? The tiny tents where whole families live are pretty much the same. Many of the same people are still here. But there are a lot more portable toilets. And people no longer have to shower in makeshift stalls formed by blankets hung from trees, with water coming from hoses, or bathe in the filthy river. A new concrete shower room has just been built. Good news? Not entirely. It means that this encampment is becoming permanent. Our government and the Mexican government seem to be preparing to have people wait here indefinitely – maybe for years – maybe forever, as we make it harder and harder for people to get into the U.S. legally.