Bill McLaughlin

Women at the Wall

At “Friendship Park” on Sundays people are allowed to approach the border wall from the US side to meet 

with family and friends on the Mexico side. In recent years, a fine metal mesh netting was installed to prevent people from holding hands and touching. Now, families and loved ones can only touch fingertips. 

Still, Sundays are usually busy with visitations, large families and during my visit, well-attended protests against the Remain in Mexico policy.

In 1973 when the park was officially inaugurated by then-First Lady Pat Nixon, and there were just a few strands of barbed wire between families, she said, “I hope there won’t be a fence here too long.”

Undocumented Cafe

Outdoor Kitchen at the Inglesia Shelter

At the Inglesia shelter in Scorpion Canyon at the time I visited, there were nearly 250 people staying there. 

Though the shelter had a large kitchen, feeding so many people each day was a demanding task. The shelter was was staffed by migrant volunteers who worked in shifts prepping and cooking every meal, every day. 

Outside the shelter, makeshift cooking areas like this one were also used.

Shelter Inglesia Embajadores de Jesus in Scorpion Canyon

The road leading to the shelter at the top of the hill. I visited during a rainy spell which turned the dirt road 

largely to mud. Our car got stuck about about two-thirds of the way up and so we wound up lugging supplies, 

huge sacks of rice and beans etc, up to the shelter.

The shelter itself was housed in a huge building which, before the crisis, served as a church, run by a husband and wife team of pastors. In addition to generously making this space available for the families, they hold a 

service for the migrants each night. The service, a rollicking two hours of preaching, singing and praying amid a sea of tents and hundreds of kids and adults, was quite a spectacle.

Outside the shelter offered a glimpse of life on the outskirts of Tijuana. Men on horseback came by every day. 

Pigs, chickens and stray dogs constantly roamed about. Houses hung precariously from the cliffs lining the canyon while cars maneuvered across rickety make-shift bridges and up slick narrow dirt lanes. Laundry hung from every available space while shoes were hung from fence tops between storms.

Pastor Juan Carlos Espinoza Gonzalez

Pastor Espinoza Gonzalez was the Shelter director at the Mision Evangelica Roca De Salvacion in Tijuana. The 

shelter at that time housed about 50 migrants, more than half of them were children. He told me he was 

expecting a group of about 15 indigenous Mexican families any day and was a little concerned as he believed 

they spoke very little Spanish. 

Pastor Juan Carlos was not only a pastor but also a social worker here in his native Tijuana. He had been the 

Shelter Director for about nine months at this time. He very generously helped put people at ease and explain

about the project and to consider having their portrait made. 

Alondra during Border Angels Visit

Alondra (Nicaragua) helping another migrant with her schoolwork during a visit to the Mision Evangelica Roca 

De Salvacion in Tijuana. I traveled with several volunteers as we took the Border Angels school bus to the shelter to deliver much needed school and art supplies. 

Few children are able to attend school regularly while in 

shelters so volunteers try to provide lessons when they can, though it seemed an impossible task given the 

cramped conditions, the varied ages and abilities of the kids and the transient nature of most migrant families. Within minutes of our arrival, tables were set up, supplies unloaded and kids and volunteers were busy making art and craft projects and some, like this small girl, practicing her writing and spelling.

Ruben

Ruben is an honorably discharged,  deported U.S. Army veteran. He was deported in 1998. Like many 

deported vets, Ruben was convicted of a felony crime then deported immediately after completing his 

sentence. He has been suffering from several disabilities due to an assault he suffered while in the U.S. 

Meanwhile, his family, including his wife, his children and his mother all live in the U.S.

Ruben has been fighting, unsuccessfully, for the last 23 years for his veterans benefits so that he can receive adequate health care for his disabilities and to return to his family.

Ruben was a great help to me in translating and making introductions at the shelters. Ruben also regularly assists Border Angels with supply runs and shelter support. 

Mural and Border Wall at “Friendship Park.

This is the border wall where it enters the Pacific Ocean dividing the United States from Mexico. Many migrants have died trying to swim around the wall to get to the U.S. Reportedly, the wall is much longer than it appears; 

the tides and waves make it a treacherous endeavor for even the strongest swimmers.

According to the stories I heard at the Las Playas shelter, migrants most often attempt the crossing when there 

is heavy fog at night. But just making the trip safely doesn't guarantee success. The beaches on the U.S. side 

are fortified with cameras, motion sensors and are also heavily patrolled.

Despite the odds and the casualties, the temptation to attempt the crossing is hard to resist for those without 

other options. I met a few men that were camped nearby waiting for the right conditions to cross.

Not long after my visit a Cuban man and a Central American woman were both drowned, in separate attempts, 

while trying to swim around the wall.

Esmerelda, Pamela & Edwin

Michoacán, Mexico