By Karen Gleason
EDITOR’S NOTE: The reporter for this story contacted law enforcement officials to learn more about the young woman featured in this piece but as of press time had not yet heard back on her or her current situation.
A young woman, dressed in a short-sleeved black t-shirt and faded blue jeans, hefts a backpack onto one shoulder and a large, glittery tote bag onto the other and begins sobbing.
She pushes her long, straight black hair away from her face as a reporter approaches her and asks if something is wrong. Is she injured? In pain?
The young woman and her traveling companions, who included another woman, four men and two children ages eight months and two years old, arrived on the Texas bank of the Rio Grande about 11:30 a.m. today after wading across a shallow portion of the river into an area known as “the vega.”
The group pauses at the edge of the river, rearranging bags and packs, before making their way through a grassy meadow where a Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office deputy is waiting for them.
He calls down to the group, instructing them to pick up their wet clothing.
“Otherwise they’ll just leave them,” he said, gesturing to other articles of clothing left behind by the countless other migrants who have used this same crossing point.
The deputy directs the group through a gate in the fence and asks them to stay in a shady spot along the road. He has already called the Border Patrol to send a van to pick up the group.
The deputy ascertains that this group is from Venezuela, though it is not known whether they are all related.
The crying woman hands the deputy an ID card.
She waves one hand in front of her face and attempts a smile.
“I’m happy, so happy,” she says in Spanish, her cheeks wet with tears. “I’m safe now.”
