By Juan Hernandez
Beatriz slept for more than 12 continuous hours without letting her son, Carlos, barely five years old, out of her arms. Her exhaustion was not only due to the thousands of kilometers they had walked from the time they crossed the Chiapas border until they reached the Casa Galilea migrant shelter in León, Guanajuato. She also needed to recover from hunger, from inclement weather, and, above all, from fear. “Beatriz lost her husband on the way…,” she told me at the shelter while I was there delivering groceries.
At the same time, the news spread on social networks that the Attorney General of the Republic would proceed with investigations into the death of migrants in Ciudad Juárez. While Beatriz took a breather before continuing on her way towards the «American dream,” in Mexico we continue to seek, according to specialists in the field, to «bureaucratically» heal the wounds that have been left behind by tragedies such as the one in Ciudad Juárez and from which Beatriz herself and her child Carlitos escaped.
In my article last week, I talked about how tragedy is, unfortunately, the shadow that accompanies many migrants. But, beyond the indignation and pain that these terrible events leave us with, what are we doing to remedy their causes? I am one of those convinced that collaborative work is the only way to face these harsh tests. In my capacity as head of National Coordination of Migrant Assistance Offices (CONOFAM), and as Secretary for Migrants and International Liaison for the State of Guanajuato, I had the opportunity to attend the Congress of the Union, invited by the president of the Commission for Migration Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies, Rosa María González Azcárraga. I was asked to speak about the importance of this body in Mexico, and spoke, precisely, about how in CONOFAM we have been able to organize ourselves, regardless of ideologies or partisan colors, and focus on jointly addressing the challenges that migration implies in our country.
During this work session in the Congress of the Union, it was motivating to witness that the Committee on Migration Issues drew extraordinary attention, including, of course, from the representatives of all the political parties. Everyone wanted to hear what we have done in CONOFAM to be the unconditional friends of migrants. Among other things, I told them about how the collaborative work between the different entities has made it possible to generate good practices that other states can replicate and even improve them. For example, Zacatecas and Guerrero, at the beginning of the 1990s, created the «Two for One» program, which in 2001 became «Three for One» nationwide, and materialized projects through the concurrence of resources from migrants, federation, states, and municipalities.
Among the discussions I had with the deputies, some asked me how I would define the importance of CONOFAM for Mexico in one word. I answered with all honesty, “Support.” In order not to go any further, despite the health contingency we suffered due to COVID-19, in the last three years we have not left migrants alone and we have been able to attend to their needs in a timely manner, not only health-wise but in other ways as well. Let us not forget that the state offices, institutes, and secretariats for the care of migrants were the ones that carried out essential tasks during the pandemic, such as the transfer of bodies or the delivery of groceries to the families of migrants. United was how we managed to get ahead, and united is how we will continue to accompany our migrants, I told the members of the commission, inviting them to consolidate an agenda with CONOFAM.
Today we are more convinced than ever of the importance of CONOFAM in Mexico. This is why our commitment is to continue strengthening the ties of cooperation among the country’s 32 states. We want to do the same with the Committee on Migration Issues of the Chamber of Deputies.
I could highlight many other things from this work session in the Congress of the Union, but what stays with me, even as I write these lines, was the minute of silence in honor of the migrants who died in Ciudad Juárez. That silence was very deep, but it also served, I am sure, to help understand that the issue of migration is life or death. That is the size of our responsibility and that is the magnitude of our actions.
I cannot stop thinking about Beatriz and Carlitos. Perhaps they have already left the Galilee House behind and are, in the best of scenarios, about to reach the border with the United States. At least in Guanajuato, because Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo has instructed us to make life easier for foreign migrants, they have a place to regain their strength to face fear once again
Juan Hernández is currently the Secretary of Migration and International Liaison of the Government of Guanajuato, and writes for the newspaper El Sol del Bajío. This column was published with his permission.
