Mexican Migrant Shelter Aims to Raise Its Own Food

Mexican Migrant Shelter Aims to Raise Its Own Food

A shelter in Mexico near the United States border is housing not only migrants and asylum¹ seekers but also chickens, pigs, and possibly fish.

Asylum seekers are forced to wait out their U.S. immigration cases in Mexico. They often spend months at the San Matias shelter run by Rev². Hector Trejo. The shelter is in the large industrial city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. It is across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The wait is stressful for people who in some cases are fleeing painful situations in their home countries. And the costs of feeding them have also been growing. Raising their own food appears to help with both difficulties.

Trejo said, "On one side you have a space with the possibility of producing food; on the other, you have a safe and decent space for the families so they can go through their process in the most harmonious³ way possible."

The shelter keeps pigs in an area where migrants can stop by to rub their big noses. It also has vegetables in a greenhouse to protect them from the cold winter temperatures. Trejo is planning a fish farm that could produce more than 6 metric tons of a kind of fish called tilapia each year.

"It is relaxing just going to the chicken coops to feed them," said José María Guerrero. He fled his home in the central state of Michoacan, Mexico to avoid violence. He is now seeking asylum in the U.S.

Guerero told The Associated Press, "Of course, it helps you. It makes you forget for a moment your problems and additionally, you have something to do here."

Benjamin Navarrete's Biological Innovations company designed the farm operation. He believes such an operation could be built for other areas experiencing similar crises.

"It is a great model, especially in the case of shelters where most of the expenses are for food and all this is an organic production," Navarrete said.

American immigrant policy

The asylum seekers are forced to wait under a U.S. policy known as "Remain in Mexico."

The policy started under the administration of former President Donald Trump⁴. It aimed at persuading asylum seekers to not travel to the U.S. border.

Under the policy, migrants without legal documentation to enter the U.S. were returned to Mexico to wait for their immigration case. President Joe Biden ended the policy when he took office. But a court order forced his administration to return to it last December.

The number of asylum seekers returned to Mexico under Biden has so far been fairly small. But American officials have also expelled migrants more than 1.5 million times without a chance to claim asylum since March 2020. It is happening under the pandemic restrictions⁵ of the public health law used by both administrations.

The policies have increased pressure on Mexican border cities. And they have increased pressure on the limited spaces available in the shelter.

Words in This Story

decent – adj. good enough but not the best: adequate or acceptable

harmonious – adj. not experiencing disagreement or fighting

coop – n. a cage or small building in which chickens or other small animals are kept

moment – n. a very short period of time

expense – n. an amount of money that must be spent especially regularly to pay for something

organic – adj. grown or made without the use of artificial chemicals

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 rev   

v.发动机旋转，加快速度

参考例句：

• It's his job to rev up the audience before the show starts.他要负责在表演开始前鼓动观众的热情。
• Don't rev the engine so hard.别让发动机转得太快。

3 harmonious   

adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的

参考例句：

• Their harmonious relationship resulted in part from their similar goals.他们关系融洽的部分原因是他们有着相似的目标。
• The room was painted in harmonious colors.房间油漆得色彩调和。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制