An Intersectional Approach to the Crisis at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Rose Cahn, Program Officer, and Angie Junck, Program Director

Human Rights Program, Heising-Simons Foundation

When Bartolo, a Mexican farmworker who came to the United States looking for work, crossed the border, he was arrested by Texas police for trespassing and locked in a prison for months. There he faced numerous due process and human rights violations, waiting for weeks without being assigned an attorney, spending more than a month without charges filed against him, and waiting even longer to go to court – all while living in atrocious conditions where he was fed raw chicken and went hungry for days. When he finally saw a judge, he was given the choice of paying a $2,500 bond – money he did not have – or pleading guilty to secure his release. He ultimately pled guilty and was released on Christmas, handed over to immigration officials, and deported the same day.

Bartolo is just one of the thousands of casualties of Operation Lonestar (OLS), a $9.5 billion effort by the administration of Texas Governor Greg Abbott that dehumanizes, degrades, and criminalizes migrants, including those seeking asylum. Despite the facts that asylum seekers are protected under US federal law, that thousands of migrants are children, and that many key sectors of the US economy have long depended on migrant labor, Texas has decided to characterize these individuals as imminent security threats and to deny them their dignity in ways that should shock anyone.

As the philanthropic community looks to the future of the human rights movement 75 years since the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), those of us working to end the crisis at the US-Mexico border and protect people like Bartolo must embrace an intersectional approach to the issue. This must include recognizing the ways in which systemic racism, inhumane immigration laws and policies, and a deeply flawed criminal legal system work together to undermine the principles and rights enshrined in the UDHR. These include, but are not limited to, the rights to freedom of movement and asylum; the right to equal protection under the law; and the prohibitions against involuntary servitude, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and arbitrary detention.

The Human Rights Program at Heising-Simons Foundation approaches grantmaking through the lens of people, not policies. Our program works to build the power and agency of those directly impacted by mass criminalization, supporting them to dismantle systems of oppression and build a safer, more just world. In response to the border crisis, and to OLS specifically, we have been working closely with grassroots groups, advocacy organizations, and other funders to support impacted communities’ response. In the process, we have gleaned lessons that might help other donors interested in tackling such a critical and complex issue.

“Those of us working to end the crisis at the US-Mexico border and protect people like Bartolo must embrace an intersectional approach to the issue. This must include recognizing the ways in which systemic racism, inhumane immigration laws and policies, and a deeply flawed criminal legal system work together to undermine the principles and rights enshrined in the UDHR.”

First, throughout our work, we have held close to our hearts Audre Lorde’s admonition: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”

As we mentioned earlier, the border politics at play in Texas necessitate an intersectional approach – one that involves the movements for human rights, immigrant rights, criminal justice, racial justice, environmental justice, and economic justice. Beyond violating the rights of thousands of asylum seekers and undermining the universal right to freedom of movement, OLS discriminates against communities of color and is dramatically ballooning the carceral state. The buoys and water barriers erected to deter migrants wreak environmental havoc on river flows while the dollars dangled for OLS participation prey off the systemic underinvestment in rural communities. Our program supports frontline partners that recognize the crisis as an issue no organization or sector can tackle alone.

Another lesson is the importance of centering the leadership and wisdom of those most impacted by the border crisis. While we fund larger groups in Texas with the capacity to backstop statewide coalition efforts, we are also keenly aware that emerging grassroots, community-based groups are critical to building powerful statewide opposition. As a national funder, we may not be best positioned to identify hyper-local groups, so we intentionally coordinate with our statewide grantees to set aside some of their overall grant for local and grassroots groups. As a result, groups large and small are all part of the statewide End OLS Coalition, which is now more diverse and representative than ever before – in part thanks to locally-led regranting efforts that have helped build relationships, identify emergent and critically important groups, and meet their individual needs.

Finally, we have learned that we must commit to resourcing campaigns for the long haul and be open to emerging strategies that do not necessarily yield short-term results. After several demoralizing losses at the state legislature, our partners in Texas are beginning to move away from defining themselves by what they are opposed to (OLS) and are instead focusing on what they know is possible at a local level: nurturing communities rooted in human dignity and compassion. To this end, our partners are working to decrease the isolation of border communities and to support and expand local organizing. This has meant engaging groups outside the traditional nonprofit and advocacy organizations, including rotary clubs, libraries, and children’s services organizations.

There is evidence that this approach works. On Aug. 1, 2023, End OLS Coalition members supported residents of Eagle Pass, Texas, to successfully advocate for their city council to rescind the mayor’s “private property” designation on their public park. The mayor’s designation had granted the Department of Public Safety authority to arrest migrant “trespassers,” resulting in over 500 arrests – more than 10 times the amount in other counties. Advocates call Eagle Pass the epicenter of OLS; over 1,000 feet of razor wire-laced buoys line the riverbanks. The Coalition coordinated testimony from local community members who convinced the city council and the mayor to revoke the designation in a unanimous vote. City council members called this a humanitarian crisis and an embarrassment to their local values.

“Through tenacious, resourceful, and persistent work, groups and community members are building across issue areas to reclaim and reframe the border as a site of welcoming inclusion.”

The growth and expansion of OLS exposes the way that multiple systems of control and punishment – immigration and criminal – have been calculatingly interwoven to circumvent international human rights outlined in the UDHR. The brutality that propagates at the intersection of those two systems should be a wakeup call that our understanding of criminalization, migration, and human rights in the US must evolve; that our strategies must sharpen; and that traditional silos must be transcended if we are to uphold human dignity and protect the most marginalized people. Through tenacious, resourceful, and persistent work, groups and community members are building across issue areas to reclaim and reframe the border as a site of welcoming inclusion. As funders, we must follow their lead.