Yesterday was mass chaos at the border in Brownsville at the Puente Nuevo (International Bridge on Elizabeth), when hundreds of immigrants from Central America decided to come in the early hours and camp out on the actual bridge itself causing US Customs to close the bridge down for several hours.   

Immigrant who doesn’t to work in Mexico

As the hours pushed into the afternoon, several members of the press asked many of the immigrants who were protesting their reasons in doing so. A Mexican official tried pleading with the protesters that they are trying to help the asylum seekers but they also need to do their part by doing things the right way because they are so many of them.  One particular individual was asked, “We’re trying to help, we can offer you a job here in Mexico so you can help out your family”,  the individual responded “I don’t want to work, I want to be in USA”, the Mexican official seemed a bit upset and replied “I understand but right now you’re not in USA, you’re in Mexico and all the people from Matamoros want to help everyone, so until you’re over there, you are in Matamoros.” 

Because of the mass amount of asylum seekers waiting to get into the United States, many of them have been camping out in make shift tents all along the sidewalks and with no access to showers, many of them have resorted to bathe in the unclean waters of the Rio Grande, some reports even included them drinking water from the river.

Trash left by the undocumented

It is very apparent there is a crisis at the border, many local Matamoros residents have commented on social media they are tired of the trash the immigrants are leaving and that the city is not doing anything about it.  An increase in looting has been occurring many feel it has been in contribution to the rise of illegal immigration.  One social media comment that stood out was one “Trump is doing a good job in USA keeping all the illegals out, while our president in Mexico is not doing anything about it.”  President Trump has been criticized very heavily at his stance at immigration but with everything that is occurring down in the border, many people have re-considered their opinion after seeing everything unfold.  

I personally have a mixed opinion and will cover this further down the line, but I can say that the ones most affected are the children who are brought into the whole mess.