“As I stare off into the crowd the majority of people are women: young, old, middle-aged, white, brown, transgender…” observed Johana Bencomo referring to her experience of leading over 400 border citizens to the wall in an act of loving and fierce resistance on June 2nd. She remarked that women understand, “how much we have to lose and what’s at stake.”
NewMexicoWomen.Org’s qualitative research in 2017 underscored that immigration is a social determinant of health for women and girls in our state. Discrimination based on immigrant status and language barriers, lead to huge workplace disparities, uncertain living conditions, paternalism, lack of access to healthcare, and a vulnerability to gender-based violence heightened by fear of reaching out to local authorities. Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy for undocumented immigrants crossing the border has resulted in over 2,000 children being separated from their families in the last few months, most of whom are seeking asylum in the United States. NMW.O’s research with our Southern New Mexico community partners told a story of discrimination and trauma endured by our border communities. If we want to advance the movement for gender justice, we must commit ourselves to building a society that does not criminalize people for seeking a safer, better life.
Our Southern New Mexico partners, like Comunidades en Acción y de Fé are leading the way in their commitment to border rights and gender justice by building local power and reclaiming the narratives told about their communities. We are honored to know the women that lead this work. Here is a story of the loving resistance led by Johana Bencomo and Cynthia Pompa, community partners from Southern New Mexico.
For over a year, four key organizations, including the Southwest Environmental Center, New Mexico Comunidades en Acción y de Fé, the ACLU for Border Rights and Immigration, and the NM Wildlife Federation have been working together to create a comprehensive narrative that reflects the reality of border communities from people to place. These organizations have brought expertise in community organizing, civil rights, and environmental sciences to the fight against advancing border militarization under Trump’s administration. On June 2nd they gathered in partnership with others including the Sierra Club and Detained Migrant Solidarity Community to take a stand, in Johana’s words, for “Our People, Our Land, Our Wildlife.” The action began in Santa Teresa, directly in front of a border wall built by the previous administration, and ended where new and more abrasive border walls are currently being constructed.
All to the Wall Action in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Photo by Joseph Yaroch.
These organizations have been working together for nearly a year to build an alliance for border revitalization and not militarization. This action was partly prompted by two recent and inhumane deaths related to ICE. Claudia Gomez, an unarmed 20 year-old women from Guatemala was shot and killed by a border patrol agent in May. Roxsana Hernandez, a trans woman who was filing for asylum, died reportedly due to a lack of medical care related to HIV complications after five days in a detention facility known as the “ice box” during the same month. These are not isolated incidents. A report by the Guardian cites 97 violence related deaths due to ICE misconduct since 2003. In Johana’s words, these incidents are not about “a rogue agent, but an entire rogue agency that Congress keeps giving more money to.”
In response to ICE and Congress, Southern New Mexicans and El Pasoans are pulling together to demand to be seen both by our national and our local representatives and community at large. According to Johana, a main goal of the Coalition that has been building power over the last year, has been for “Northern NM to start owning that we are a border state,” and to push congress to a place where “they don’t keep throwing our communities under the bus.”
With the leadership of young, local women, like Johana and Cynthia Pompa, more and more people are coming together in love and resistance to make their voices heard. It is becoming more widely understood that the Border Community technically extends to a 90-mile radius of the border line, and therefore border militarization impacts over 15 million lives across the country.
These women are leading a heart-centered and radical form of resistance, by bringing beauty, compassion and community to the movement. On June 2nd each of the 420 people gathered for All to The Wall brought a flower to place on the newly constructed, and jagged metal wall, after praying, singing, and witnessing traditional danza together. Johana reflects that, “the way we organize and lead our communities, we aren’t just leaning into an individual power, but we understand collective power and we trust ourselves, so others trust us.”
In the timeless words of Audre Lord, “the master’s house cannot be destroyed by the master’s tools.” These women understand that, and are embracing transformation from a space of love and union, instead of fear and division. Johana asks that anyone who wants to support border communities as they engage a growing military force in their homelands, trust them and follow their lead. “We are capable.”
If you would like to take action, please support and learn about the work of these groups:
- New Mexico Comunidades en Accion y de Fe
- ACLU for Border Rights
- Southwestern Environmental Center
- New Mexico Wildlife Federation
All to the Wall Action in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Photo by Joseph Yaroch.
All to the Wall Action in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Photo by Joseph Yaroch.