EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A community group is again bringing together, even if just for a few minutes, families separated by immigration status.
Border Network for Human Rights says its 11th “Hugs Not Walls” event will take place at the international border in November. The encounters featuring family members walking over from Mexico to hug relatives living on the U.S. side of the border usually take place on the Rio Grande between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. The Border Patrol watches from a distance and the participants wear distinctive vests or T-shirts that allow authorities to keep track of who walked over from where.
However, with the Texas Army National Guard having placed razor wire and stationed soldiers along the river, the exact location and date of the event have not been publicly announced.
Last year, it was held on a platform over the Rio Grande where Juarez, El Paso and Sunland Park, New Mexico, meet. The Texas Guard has since extended razor wire on the portion of the river facing New Mexico.
“As border communities throughout Texas continue to be subjected to unprecedented militarization, demonization, and hate, BNHR will continue to provide hope to families that have been forcefully separated by our broken and inhumane immigration system,” said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the group. “‘Hugs Not Walls’ provides the long-awaited opportunity for kids, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles to see, touch, and hug each other for a few precious minutes, many for the first time in years.”
For more information, visit bnhr.org.
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