Migrants warmed by the community as freezing temperatures linger in El Paso

EL PASO, Texas – In a way, it feels like it could be any other Christmas in El Paso. Families who live here stroll through the annual downtown holiday fair, where a 55-foot tree glitters with ornaments and hundreds of thousands of tiny lights are strung everywhere. People take photos near the life-size nativity scene depicting baby Jesus in the manger.

As the Christmas story tells, there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn. It’s what thousands of migrants who recently crossed the US-Mexico border are seeing now — no place to sleep or stay.

Just a few blocks from the Christmas celebrations, a young mother cradles her 4-month-old baby on the sidewalk in front of the bus station.

/ Jim Urquhart for NPR

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Jim Urquhart for NPR

Lisba, who is Venezuelan and whose last name we don’t use because she and her family sneaked into the country without papers, says she is afraid to seek protection. “I’m afraid of everything we’ve been through and that they’ll send us back,” she says in Spanish. Only people who have reported to Border Patrol and now have immigration papers can sleep in the thousand cots at the city’s convention center. The city says it’s a federal regulation, which contributes to the shelter’s expenses.

In recent days, some churches have opened their doors to all migrants, regardless of their immigration status, bringing them out of the bitter cold. David Carrero from Venezuela spent nights at Sacred Heart Church with his wife and little boy.

/ Jim Urquhart for NPR

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Jim Urquhart for NPR

“They supported us and gave us food, and people gave away food, clothes and toys for the children,” says Carrero in Spanish.

Back at the bus station, local residents Adan Amezaga, his wife and two young daughters have been handing out gallons of coffee and more than a thousand sandwiches to migrants over the past few days.

“Every year at Christmas we happily sponsor a family,” says Amezaga.

They distributed hats, scarves and gloves.

While migrants had hoped for the greatest Christmas gift of all, the lifting of pandemic border restrictions that would allow them to seek asylum in the United States, which didn’t happen, they are thankful for the kindness of strangers this holiday season.

/ Jim Urquhart for NPR

/

Jim Urquhart for NPR

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