Samrwt Tesfey walked from Asmara, Eritrea to Khartoum, Sudan with her daughter Malhri before flying to Dubai and eventually traveling to Mexico. In April 2019, she arrived in Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas. Vladimir Patrushev, his wife Mila, and their son Matthew came to Reynosa from Kyiv, Ukraine and, like the Tesfey family, traveled across continents hoping to request asylum. They are among hundreds of migrants from all over the world who arrive in this border city hoping it will be a gateway to new lives in the United States.

To manage the thousands of asylum seekers in Reynosa, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Mexican immigration officials, working in conjunction with Pastor Héctor Silva, director of the “Path