Rev. Mary Heath
Chair, Refugee & Immigrant Ministries
Oklahoma Region

It was 32 degrees, and the wind was blowing when we arrived in Del Rio, Texas, at 7:30 am. It is late December 2023 at Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition. Del Rio is a busy border town halfway between Brownsville and El Paso, Texas, and the bus was full of families released from detention. Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition had 1,172 assists during the three days another volunteer and I worked with them. We are helping as representatives of the Oklahoma Region’s Refugee and Immigrant Ministries Commission.

The sun was barely up and the first bus of the day was already in the parking lot. I wondered how early and dark and cold it was when the occupants had to get out into the cold weather to board. I had wool socks and sneakers yet I could not feel my toes for most of the day each of the three days. I had three layers and a thick scarf. I started out freezing but after greeting the first bus of families each day, I forgot about myself.

We decided to allow the newly paroled men, women, and children to wait inside the bus while we worked to get everything set up rather than have them stand in the cold. We put out the industrial-sized outlets used for phone charging, pulled out the trash cans, opened the bus ticket room, and bring out boxes of snacks for breakfast. After exiting the bus, everyone gets in line to have their wrist bracelets cut off, the tags on bags removed and receive a snack. We will soon have orientation.

Destination Unknown

Many people arrive and have no idea where they are. When we tell them they’ve arrived in Del Rio, Texas, they still have no idea where this is. It is difficult to make travel arrangements when you do not know where the detention bus has brought you. We show them a map of the U.S. and point out Del Rio.

Orientation consists of telling the families their options: get a Greyhound bus to their destination, get a ticket on the charter bus to San Antonio to an overnight shelter, or take the state-run bus to a destination city.

Feeding & Clothing Those in Need

As families try to eat and make travel arrangements volunteers pass out the winter items and toiletries. Many people show up in this very cold weather without coats, hats, gloves, and shoes. We distribute every single winter item collected by Oklahoma Disciples from my fully stuffed mid-sized SUV.

We place mismatched toddler socks on the hands and feet of infants and toddlers whose parents held them out to us. We give out socks to men, women, and children who were wearing only flip flops on their feet. We offer shoestrings to those who had shoes but had the shoestrings taken during detention.

Volunteers try to notice specific needs; while doing this one grandmother has arrived in a sleeveless blouse and capri pants. A father with an infant and a three-year-old is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He has a mylar blanket around him, but it is hard to hold it around himself and his baby at the same time. It is even more difficult when he is shivering. And on this day, for some reason, several middle-age to senior-age women have ankle monitors.

Mothers and fathers are given diapers and wipes, and they are shown the changing tables. Coats, hoodies, blankets, backpacks, socks and shoes are distributed in between bus arrivals.

An Unclear Future

Some days three or four buses arrive here, some days more. Because there is no overnight shelter in Del Rio, everyone needs to get somewhere else, but several cannot. They either do not have the money, or a contact that can help. Some are waiting for another family member to arrive who was separated during either the trip across or in detention. It is difficult to explain to a family they must move on without their loved one and try to meet elsewhere. There is no way of knowing when their loved one will be released or where they will even be taken. Several families stay overnight out in the cold. They use boxes from the trash and the playground climbers as protection from the cold. We hand out Cup-O-Noodles to those who spent last night outside.

After the last bus for the day has arrived, and everyone has been handed the lunch snack, the operation shuts down. The women selling tickets for the charter buses for San Antonio lock up and leave. Several people have not had the opportunity to make travel arrangements but the organization must lock up and leave even though people are still there in the open-air park pavilion. Unless other individuals or churches bring food, there is no dinner. Porta-potties are available, but there is no running water. There are no beds. There is no clean water to mix for baby formula or to drink. Unless it is Sunday, the day starts all over the next morning.

How Might YOU Help?

We left each afternoon knowing we did all we could but feeling as though we have not done enough. Every day there and every day since the Gospel keeps running through my mind: when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, and welcome the stranger, we have done the same for Jesus.

Another drive to Del Rio is scheduled for mid-February 2024, and we could use your help. You may still donate items needed: coats and jackets in all sizes for men and women, socks and mittens for infants and toddlers, shoelaces in red, black, gray, and white.

Monetary donations for the trip are also very appreciated. You may make donations to Disciples Christian Church by mail (1400 NW 178th St., Edmond, OK 73012) or online through Givelify, please specify it is for Refugee and Immigrant Ministries.

AND pray. Pray for better systems of immigration, humanitarian efforts, and all the tragic causes of immigration and asylum seekers.

Please do not believe everything you hear in the news. If you would like to know more about the issues and conditions on the U.S./Mexico border, you may contact Rev. Mary Heath at [email protected].