From “The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border” by Cristina Rathbone
Others followed. One by one people processed forward, as solemnly as if they were in church during Holy Week, and silently gave what they had to this now lost and despairing mother of five. And with the most profound dignity imaginable, she received it all; the love, the support, the money, silently nodding her thanks as she blinked back tears.
“What will you do now?” I asked as we walked to the hotel.
“Go back home,” she said. “What else can I do?”
“Will you be safe there?”
“No,” she said flatly, entirely matter of fact. “First my oldest boy, then my next, and one day the little one, too, will have to choose: join the cartel or be shot.”