Border Shelter Sees Population Shift

Placed on the concrete floor below the figure are candles, nickels, photos and a round medallion key chain with a single key and Ralph's Club card dangling from it.
wallet pictures
The items represent supplications from men who passed through Casa del Migrante in Tijuana on their way to attempt the dangerous crossing into the United States.

Casa del Migrante is a shelter for men who have been deported after being apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol. But in recent months, the shelter's workers have seen an overwhelming influx of men who have lived in the United States for years, some for decades, who have been deported.

The shelter is one of the Scalabrini missions named after Fr. John Baptist Scalabrini who is known as El Padre de los Migrantes (The Father of the Immigrants). There are currently seven Casas del Migrante throughout Mexico and Guatemala.

"We help immigrants as much as we can," says Héctor Fierro, group coordinator for the shelter.

Tomás Goméz Reyes, 19, arrived at Casa del Migrante the day before after being deported for being undocumented. Reyes was part of a group of 10 on their way to New York for work. Originally from Morelia, Michoacán, Reyes crossed at Altar, Sonora. He spent four days walking before the Border Patrol stopped the group in Nevada and returned them to Tijuana.

"I'm going to get some money together and try to cross again," he says.

He knows the dangers of crossing through the desert. More than 3,000 people have lost their lives since 1990, when Border Patrol enforcement began on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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