‘We are threatened with death’: Mexican asylum seekers flee drug cartels, camp out at Paso Del Norte

Dozens of Mexican families are camping out at the base of the Paso Del Norte bridge waiting to ask for asylum because they fear cartels in their homeland.

ABC-7 spoke with a woman who preferred for us to call her ‘Martha.’

She started the conversation with an apology.

“I know this is unfortunate, and we’re sorry because we know we are obstructing pathways. We have children. But many of us have come fleeing our pueblos,” said Martha.

Martha spoke to ABC-7 from inside a small tent she bought for her family when she arrived to Juarez.

She and dozens of families from remote pueblos in Durango, Tamaulipas and other are small towns have been camping out at the base of the Paso Del Norte bridge for the past several weeks.

They are requesting asylum.

But because of current immigration laws, they fall under metering policies which force them to wait until their number is called before they can go in front of an immigration judge.

Her story is like many other camping asylum seekers, but only she granted ABC-7 an interview, describing the group’s forcing them from their homelands.

“Organized delinquency, or cartels, whatever you want to call them, they force families. They ask do you have a car, give me your keys. You have livestock, I’m taking a cow.”

Priests from a local El Paso church are helping feed the dozens of families.

Juarez authorities say this same scene of families camping out is playing out in other ports of entry along the border.

“There’s a thousand people sleeping on the streets. They need food and diapers,” said Reverend Justin Gibson from the St. Francis of the Hill Episcopal Church in El Paso.

Martha says what they don’t have is peace of mind. She says families camping out side by side look out for themselves, wondering if those same cartel members will come for them in Juarez.

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“We are threatened with death. The cartels send people and they come here.” Martha said retreating into her small tent.