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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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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