When I make a round trip to Mexico and back across the Rio Grande it costs me $1.25. One dollar on the US side to leave for Mexico. 25 cents on the Mexico side to enter the US.
For the average asylum seeker I met today, the price was higher: $6,000 for the coyote to help cross Mexico without being raped. Being raped anyway. The family left behind. The land they sold for almost nothing because it was the only way to pay the ransom for the son who was kidnapped by the gangs who murdered him anyway.
The down payment they’ve paid in courage and determination to endure what they know will be torture at the hands of the US Customs and Border Patrol in the “icebox” detention centers.
I qualified for my discount bridge toll by being born north of the river.
These asylum seekers scored their bargain by being born further south.
Saludadores 