June 27, 2018

Asylum Seekers Are Waiting at the Border Amid Extreme Heat and Uncertainty. Our Reporting Team Is With Them.

The crisis didn’t end with Trump’s move to reverse his family-separation policy.

Mark Helenowski

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A Mexican woman has been waiting eight hours at the border in extreme heat to claim asylum with her two children and her niece, whose mother was murdered a month ago. So have two Guatemalan women who have no phones, money, or idea where they’ll stay tonight if they’re not allowed into the United States.

Our reporting team is with them. Mother Jones immigration reporter Noah Lanard and filmmaker Mark Helenowski spent time with these women at the border crossing between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, as they document the continuing crisis at the border. 

The Trump administration finally ended its family-separation policy, but around 2,000 children remain separated from their parents. Meanwhile, administration officials have repeatedly said that immigrants with legitimate claims won’t face any problems if they come to official border crossings and apply for asylum. Yet many people like these women are being turned back or told to wait for long periods of time as the government claims capacity issues. For these people seeking safety in the United States, the promises of a chance to make their case for asylum ring hollow. 

Here, Noah gives an overview of the border crisis, which he’ll be covering in detail in the days to come:

Video by Mark Helenowski

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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