Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Venezuelan children are transported across the border from Matamoros to Brownsville in South Texas in an inflatable pool. Families refuse to start the new year on the Mexican side and, unprepared for the risks, head to the Texas shore with their children.
The crossing point is the same spot where two migrants drowned last week. There is little surveillance on the Mexican side, while the U.S. military seeks to curb illegal crossings.
For the past two weeks, crossings have been ongoing, not even halting when a Venezuelan and a Haitian drowned in the middle of the Rio Grande, trapped in mud, garbage, and the water wall.
In Mexico, immigration agents are overwhelmed trying to contain the crowds that rush into the tributary at all hours, even during the early morning.
They all come from very difficult situations, they are not here by choice, they are here out of necessity and (when they reach the border) they feel very close to their goal, that's why they cross, even when we tell them the risk they run, and that they will most likely be deported
, he explained.
From the Mexican side, people in transit still housed in the open-air camp watch on the U.S. side as Border Patrol and U.S. National Guard officers set up two wire-mesh fences to block the flow.
