RCM’s Shelter for Immigrants

RCM has a new interim shelter to aid in social support work of newly arriving asylum seekers find housing in Matamoros as the border continues to be closed to new applications for asylum. Rather than person’s risking their lives by staying in the streets or out in the plaza, RCM is committed to providing case management to help people explore tgeur housing opportunities.

We’ve been doing this work since COVID began and shelters closed and the camp closed.

Since shelters are at capacity at this time, we often times are left with limited options on finding housing for people that are arriving at the border.

We perform case management to explore their own resources for renting, where we help with appliances and furnishings, and we also set them up with referrals to attorneys, and help get their documentation required for working.

However, when shelters are at near capacity it becomes a challenge to find housing especially for COVID positive individuals and have to work with folks throughout the day to find a roof over their head. We are opening the interim shelter as a place to get people under a roof for the night while we work on placing in longer term solutions or longer-term shelter settings or while attorneys work their cases.

We need help to outfit the new space conveniently located 2 blocks away from the international bridge, RCM and the immigration offices. We have identified bunk beds, twin mattresses, shelves, room divider screens, pillows, linens, and small lounging furniture for each room. The space is equipped with air conditioning, WiFi, a full srvice kitchen, and an area where clients can neet with other service providers, attorneys or access comouters and printers.

Safety, Privacy, Dignity, Support:

The Resource Center is located on the asylum seeker campgrounds in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, MX. It is the only on-site building where asylum seekers can meet in safety and privacy with lawyers, doctors and others providing help and support.

Resource Center’s volunteers spend time with the families, learning their individual stories, listening to their needs, their educational backgrounds, desire for work. We take the time to talk with them to see what kinds of help would be most useful to them to ensure success in their lives and during their quest to establishing a better life for their families and themselves. 

Campground Management:

UPDATE: The refugee camp has been closed by the Mexican immigration government since March 2021, however, RCM is prepared with equipment and skills to sustain such entities should they be needed again. We are currently contingency planning for the return of thousands of migrants into the city of Matamoros due to the current Supreme Court Decision that has ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy or MPP. We are working on gathering resources for new campground infrastructure, expansion of programs, and finding larger shelters, as well as assisting existing shelters.

RCM has overseen the entire campground and monitored issues that asylum seekers reported most, such as a lack of access to clean treated water for bathing and washing clothes, need for more sanitary conditions for them and their children, and having more dignified access to resources. Projects that we have developed and maintained in the past refugee campground settings that respond to these needs include engineering projects within the camp like bringing clean water to the asylum seekers for showers and washing clothes, hand washing stations, and water filtration systems for clean drinking water. The projects are executed by volunteer staff often made up of asylum seekers living within the camp.

Legal Assistance:

The Resource Center is a 6-unit office complex that is the home for HIAS, which is providing legal assistance and assistance with obtaining formal documents for job search and integration into the city of Matamoros as they wait to access the asylum process in the US. We support the legal team by any means possible, including outreach to the camp to deliver paperwork or round up people for consultations before their hearings. We conduct trainings for asylum seekers to help prepare them for their court dates.

We also provide a safe space for asylum seekers to come in and utilize our resources and technology for printing, copying, and our center volunteers help to assist people register for consultations with attorneys and help them create emails etc.  Prior to opening our office, asylum seekers had to go into the town of Matamoros to have documents printed, which left them vulnerable to violence.

Governmental Relations & Advocacy:

Working closely with representatives from the US and Mexican governments, RCM lobbies and advocates for more humane treatment of asylum seekers.

Above: Gaby Zavala, Executive Director of Resource Center, partnered with Mike Benevides of Team Brownsville last November to provide input to Congress in Washington about the humanitarian crisis in Matamoros and requesting aid.

Access To Healthcare:

Due to resources and funding we are not providing medical case management at this time. However, are looking to reinstate this program due to the threat of the reimplementation of the Remain in Mexico Policy.

Resource Center Matamoros designed and implanted the first program of its kind that provides free medical case management services to asylum seekers in need of medical tests used to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases and determine proper course of treatment and/or follow up care. Our volunteer staff medical coordinator walks asylum seekers through the process of accessing a local public indigent medical insurance provided by the city of Matamoros. As an alternative, when local resources are unavailable, RCM provides free access to private health care providers, ongoing medical treatment, and specialized medical services. Transportation and accompaniment for these services is also provided through our center to ensure safety and security for asylum seekers afraid to leave the federal property zone. For the first time, asylum seekers that reside at the port of entry in Matamoros, Tamaulipas have access to consistent and ongoing access to health care, free of charge.

Jenny Merwin, LCSW, Clinical Psychotherapist, serves as Behavioral Health Director at RCM. At a time where psychological services were practically nonexistent for asylum seekers, Jenny Merwin began to provide mental health and therapy sessions for refugees and asylum seekers dealing with complex trauma and/or pressing current situations. She continues to serve as the leading clinical therapy for asylum seekers in Matamoros.