TEXAS — The crisis at the Texas-Mexico border is expected to continue over the coming months, as more unaccompanied minors and migrants make their way to the states. Last week, the first wave of unaccompanied minors arrived in busses at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.
Gloria Olivia-Mendoza, an office manager at Mano Amiga in San Marcos says it’s an ongoing humanitarian crisis.
“I’m a very emotional person,” Olivia-Mendoza says. “I may start crying now. Those kids have suffered a lot, walking, hungry, no water.”
Mano Amiga is an organization fighting to make policy changes for non-citizens living in the San Marcos region, something she’s been longing to see for years.
She’s been working with immigrants and undocumented minors for most of her career. With all the news centered around unaccompanied immigrant minors coming through the Texas-Mexico border, she knows their stories all too well and feels she’s a voice for many of them.
When she heads to work every day, each of their stories weighs on her mind.
“I had another young woman, her mother came when she was like a year old,” Olivia-Mendoza says referring to a young girl who crossed over the border alone in efforts to find her mother, who was living in San Marcos at the time.
She’s hoping to see changes made soon, recalling when her husband gained citizenship in the 1970’s, a time she says it was much easier.
“Historically they need to go back in time and see what worked in Ronald Reagan's era,” Olivia-Mendoza says.
For now, she’ll do what she always has, be a listening ear, and a voice for change.