Sorrow, Resilience, and Tenderness: Surviving the Wait at the US-Mexico Border

A video dispatch from a bridge spanning two countries

Every day, migrants arrive at the US-Mexico border hoping to gain entry and find safety. But before they are processed, they must wait—usually for days, sometimes in extreme heat and inhospitable conditions.

Mother Jones reporter Noah Lanard and I spent nearly a week at the border bridges between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, to meet these migrants ourselves and film their stories. What we found was a powerful mix of tragedy, perseverance, and, we were surprised to discover, hope. 

We will be sharing these stories with you soon. But just to begin, here’s a glimpse of some of the scenes at the border with those who are suspended between two worlds, and those who are trying to help.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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