Ana María Zambrano’s story in Palomas
By Elket Rodríguez
Ana María Zambrano García, 32, traveled thousands of miles from her native Ecuador to end up incapacitated in a migrant shelter in the remote desert village of Palomas, Mexico, after falling from the top of the US-Mexico border wall. In her attempt to set foot on U.S. soil, Zambrano broke her legs and her spine, and is now confined to a bed in a shelter.
"I tried to climb up the wall, and I fell as I was about to cross to the other side [the United States],” Zambrano said. “I injured my legs, part of my spine and my neck.”
According to Zambrano, she fell over 26 feet and was expelled back to Mexico–with a cast on her right leg and a neck brace–under Title 42, a U.S. policy that authorizes rapid expulsion of migrants at the border due to COVID-19. Unable to stand up or walk, she was transported to the Palomas shelter where she is dependent on the assistance of other migrants to survive.
“I fled Ecuador due to intrafamily abuse by my daughter's father,” she confessed. “He abused and harassed me a lot, and the laws that protect women (in Ecuador) are not fully enforced.”
Stories like Zambrano’s are very common, admitted Pastor Rosalío Sosa, who coordinates Red de Albergues para Migrantes (Migrant Shelter Network), a ministry that serves thousands of refugees in 18 immigrant shelters in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.
"This happens every day and every night," Sosa said. “They show up at the shelter after wandering up to nine days in the desert or after falling from the border wall. Many show up dehydrated and with cracked feet. Others arrive with stomach problems after going up to five days without eating."
Most of the shelters supervised by Sosa are in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso. Yet, his network extends 100 miles west to Palomas, where Zambrano is tended. But Palomas doesn’t have a hospital, forcing Sosa to drive 100 miles east to Juarez for these migrants to receive medical attention.
“It is very common for us to receive injured migrants who are expelled by the US border patrol,” Sosa claimed. “Border patrol should, at least, return these migrants through Juárez, where there is greater access to medical services.”
The State Population Council, the Chihuahuan government’s agency that coordinates services to migrants, hired a nurse who is on call in Palomas to assist Sosa. But the continuation of her services is uncertain and may depend on the results of the upcoming Mexican elections.
Meanwhile, the US border patrol continues to expel migrants under Title 42, a Trump-Era policy that is still being implemented by the Biden administration at the border. On May 20 and May 24, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, and two Department of Homeland Security physicians called for an end to the Title 42 policy due to its impact on migrant children and families.
“I ask governments to do what they are supposed to do. Nothing more," Sosa concluded.
If you would like to contribute to Fellowship Southwest’s immigrant relief ministry, which supports the work of Sosa and other pastors all along the U.S.-Mexico border, click here.
* Names have been changed to protect the woman and her family.
Elket Rodríguez is the immigrant and refugee advocacy and missions specialist for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Fellowship Southwest.