Rachel Jackson

Accredited Representative, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center

El Paso, TX

11/2/2022

Rachel Jackson met with us sitting on the lawn of the Chamizal National Monument in El Paso, Texas. The park looks out over a border checkpoint that brings travelers into Juarez, Mexico. Rachel works as an Accredited Representative for an organization called Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy center. As an accredited representative, Rachel provides legal representation to immigrants seeking citizenship, residency, asylum and a host of other forms of status. Rachel tells us about immigration policy and the ways in which Customs and Border Protection uses intimidation to discourage asylum seekers and migrants. In her eyes the border is not a system that is overwhelmed or broken, it is a system working as it is designed to. Many people in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez cross the border regularly to visit family and attend school and work. Even though it is a crisis in many ways, dealing with the surveillance, policing and harassment that comes along with it has become normalized in the borderlands community.

Rachel talks about the mismatch of need and resources surrounding migrant justice work. There is a huge need for legal representation and advocacy, so the few resources available are constantly overwhelmed. Consequently, there is very little excess time and energy that can be put into visioning and coalition building to create a more widespread network of support for migrants. Rachel says “we need to band together to materially support migrants so that innovations and creativity in the movement can continue.”

By Mosley Lerner