Border Refugee Assistance Fund expands support and aid for migrants on the border
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Hope Border Institute and the Diocese of El Paso announced an expansion of humanitarian support for migrants and asylum seekers in Ciudad Juárez amid intensified enforcement on both sides of the border.
The effort, managed through the Border Refugee Assistance Fund, aims to strengthen care on both sides of the border as enforcement measures intensify.
The initiative provides emergency shelter, health care, mental health services and transportation to people displaced by violence and increased deportations. This expansion comes as asylum access narrows and international funding cuts strain the capacity of local organizations to respond to mounting humanitarian needs.
The expansion involves a partnership with "Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción," an organization known as DHIA.
Through this collaboration, the initiative will offer immediate assistance to migrants who have survived exploitation, trafficking or violence.
Services include emergency shelter and medical care for these vulnerable populations.
The Jesuit Refugee Service Mexico will also participate in the effort to address mental health needs for those in transit.
Faith communities will provide counseling and psychosocial support.
These services are intended to fill a gap as mental health resources have become increasingly scarce in the region.
Dylan Corbett serves as the executive director of the Hope Border Institute.
He described the collaboration between faith communities on both sides of the border as an essential response to the current conditions for asylum seekers.
“At a time when the border is closed to asylum seekers and deportations are intensifying, our work with Bishop Seitz and our partners in Ciudad Juárez has never been more urgent,” Corbett said.
“The Border Refugee Assistance Fund represents something essential: the willingness of faith communities on both sides of a wall to act as one body. We are grateful to our supporters across the country and the world who make this binational solidarity possible," he said.
Bishop Mark Seitz, who leads the Diocese of El Paso, emphasized the necessity of these partnerships during a press conference in Ciudad Juárez.
He says the human cost of border enforcement is felt by communities in both the United States and Mexico.
“Partnership is not a luxury in times like these; it is a necessity,” Seitz said. “Through the Border Refugee Assistance Fund, we have learned to respond with both flexibility and conviction to the needs of migrants at our border. As the enforcement campaign intensifies, its human cost is felt on both sides. Our faith communities are called to answer that cry. I am proud that this Fund is helping to lead that response.”
The Border Refugee Assistance Fund was established in 2019 as a joint initiative between Seitz and the Hope Border Institute. Since its inception, the fund has provided humanitarian aid to thousands of migrants and families along the U.S.-Mexico border.
