The annual retreat for staff and summer interns happened to fall during the height of the family reunification crisis, but somehow we all managed to make it down to Brownsville for the weekend.
The border wall
Thankfully, in at least one spot, this disgusting architecture is decorated with some beautiful artwork. We were stopped by US Border Patrol just for driving around the wall (legally, and with at least one lawyer in each car). Perhaps the strangest part of our tour of the border wall was the fact that you can literally drive through it at certain points, since it bisects roads at certain points. You're still in the US on both sides, making the "border wall" pretty meaningless.
La posada providencia
We spent one afternoon at a shelter that receives many of the women who leave Dilley when they don't have a safe place to go to. We were able to chat with clients and help them with their English lessons, and I had a beautiful time chatting with a women from Zimbabwe.
south padre island
For some well-deserved fun, we stopped by the beach on South Padre Island before taking a sunset boat cruise around the island. Perhaps the highlight of the cruise was when we paused to watched the fireworks and "God Bless the USA" started playing, which led everyone in our group to start yelling expletives at ICE...
Driving home to Dilley, we were stopped at one of many US Border Patrol Checkpoints, where our tax dollars pay people to stop every car and ask if each person is a citizen.