According to Brookings, thousands of migrants are heading north through Mexico toward the United States border each day. The number of U.S. Border Patrol encounters with migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border continues to be high. For two years in a row, the number of illegal crossings has exceeded two million.

Over 1.6 million interactions with migrants were reported by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2021 along the border between the United States and Mexico, greater than four times the amount from the previous fiscal year and the largest annual total ever recorded. Many of the men, women and children who cross the border face abduction by criminal gangs, different counts of assault, robbery and illness.

Over a decade ago, the mother of a Logansport graduate decided to cross the Mexican border. Holding her three-month-old baby in her arms, she fought through a crowd of people who were attempting to cut her off from her younger brother, who was 14. Striving to make it across the border, she heard a commotion coming from the crowd of people.

“I remember a lot of screaming and yelling for us to keep our heads down,” the mother said. “Men in all black clothing screamed at us to be quiet and treated us like cattle. If someone couldn’t keep up, then we would just leave them.”

Soon afterward, she arrived at the border gripping her younger brother’s hand and her baby. Her husband, waiting on the other side, hoped that they would make it.

“I remember running onto the highway, and I walked for miles until my husband finally found us,” the mother said. “We cried indefinitely after not seeing each other for almost a year.”

Finding Support in the School System

In the school system, students who migrate to the United States are sometimes behind a few grade levels. EL teacher Emily Graham stated that the reason is because of the lack of resources as well as the tuition being too costly.

“We had a lot of kids that did not have an academic background,” Graham said. “It’s a very different student who moves here from Mexico who has a full education and is caught up in their grade level work from a student who might have moved here at 14 only being in school for fifth grade. That is why we started the newcomer program with Jitka Nelson.”

Graham works with level two students, and Nelson works with level zero students to help them become familiar with the English language.

“Mrs. Nelson does pre-/post-testing and tracks students’ lexile levels,” Graham said. “She’s very thorough in how many different measures she uses to figure out where a student is since she works with level zero students. Each student goes up a level with the amount of progress and growth shown. I have plenty of students who are smart enough, but just do not have the English vocabulary to express their eagerness. We always have to wait for that magic moment when we think that they are ready, and as long as we see that everyone is growing, that is what we are looking for.”

In the school system, changes were made for non-English speaking students within the community. Since 2000, English Learners Support Services Coordinator Elisa Banuelos has dedicated herself to helping students overcome barriers when it comes to the classroom.

“I work with the LCSC staff to find the best place for the students and their needs,” Banuelos said. “Currently, with the opening of The Academy, the EL program has been able to find a place for those students who come as 16 years or older with circumstances that limit them from attending a full day of school but still have the desire and need to obtain a high school diploma and learn the English language.”

When she started Banuelos was only 18 years old, working alongside Jeannie Adair, who taught her the English language after she graduated from Logansport.

“To this day, she has been my role model as a professional employee,” Banuelos said. “I began as a classroom assistant and worked my way up to a secretary position before landing my current one. I now help explain the educational system through preschool to high school as well as some college information. I explain delays, cancellations, e-learning, the importance of attendance and vaccines.”

A Local Church Provides Help

Within the community of Cass County, The Bridge Community Church, located at 301 E. Linden Ave., is run by Founders and Executive Directors of Immigrant Connection Zach and Lyndy Szmara. The church not only offers multilingual services, but it also offers immigrants different pathways and aid when coming from a different country.

“I opened the first Immigrant Connection office in Logansport in Feb. 2014,” Zach Szmara said. “Since then, I’ve opened over 40 additional offices across 22 states, leading one of the largest non-profit immigration legal providers in the whole country. I’ve opened over 40 legal offices in the past nine years. No other organization has opened more than eight in that time frame.”

When younger, Szmara had a false view of immigrants. However, when introduced to a newcomer, his journey of helping these immigrants started.

“When I moved to Logansport, I was 30 years old, and an immigrant invited me to lunch,” Szmara said. “That meal changed my life. I was welcomed to this community by an immigrant newcomer, and learning his story transformed my life. I realized I had spent most of my life believing lies and myths about immigrants and immigration. I was compelled to be a part of helping have an impact and offering welcome to immigrants along the immigration journey.”

In the most recent years, there has been a shift in who is trying to travel to the United States.

“I lament the brokenness of the outdated laws,” Szmara said. “I lament the inaction of Congress to fix things. I lament the lack of welcome that many immigrant newcomers receive. What is new, however, is who the migrants at the border are. In the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s, it was usually single, Mexican males, but in the past 10-15 years, it’s been mostly women and children from the Northern Triangle: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Even more recently, it’s been from completely other countries.”

While some immigrants are coming to seek a better life, many of them try to look for job opportunities, including Tyson Foods.

“Tyson has always been foundational to attracting and recruiting immigrants,” Szmara said. “But now that our community is globally diverse, that also becomes its own catalyst for more and more immigrant families coming to live in Logansport.”

In Logansport’s community, there is a wide range of diversity. Registered nurse Rebecca Foreman has been taking care of Tyson’s team members for 10 years now.

“All of the diversity has broadened our knowledge of the world,” Foreman said. “It is an honor to serve the diversified team members at Tyson and realize that we are all the same. As a nurse, I am going to take care of anyone, no matter where they are from, to the best of my ability. We live in a country where we don’t have to worry about the government overturning and causing chaos. We are very fortunate.”

This story was originally published on LHS Magpie on December 12, 2023.