The History Of Border Line Crisis Center

We have a dual relationship with the migrant community: because we are part of it and because we have been dedicated for years to understand and address their needs, which we always approach from the respect for the person, their autonomy and the recognition of their ability to influence their environment. Within our organization we carry out discussion circles in which the residents themselves give their opinions, reach community agreements and organize themselves to keep the place harmonious and safe. We try to promote a sense of community and mutual support, always with their voice at the center.

Border Line Crisis Center was founded by Daniel Ruiz, a Mexican deportee who experienced the needs first hand and decided to do something about it. In 2015 operations began providing telephone and internet access to deported people so they could be in contact with their families. However, along the way there were obstacles and attacks that caused the space to change its location. 

 Massive waves of migrants begin to arrive to Tijuana and other ports of entry. At the same time, access to the legal right to seek asylum is denied in huge numbers, creating crisis in many border towns due to a lack of shelter and services for the thousands of families and individuals fleeing violence, discrimination, serious threats to their lives, and economic desperation that would previously have been able to seek asylum upon arriving at the border.

Our team members work in a variety of grassroots projects to provide shelter, legal support, medical attention, psychological support, and basic needs to the unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers stuck in Tijuana, and the groundwork for a new non-profit is laid down.

  It was in 2019 that it was legally constituted and began to operate as a shelter. 

With the growth of the space Judith Cabrera joined the team in 2020, who is co-director of the shelter, coming from a single-parent family that arrived in Tijuana due to forced displacement by domestic violence. Aware of the inequalities experienced by women due to gender-based violence, it was agreed that the space would be exclusively for women, NNAs, women from the LGBTQI+ community.

 The Border Line Crisis Center shelter begins to operate, temporarily using its offices and the surrounding vacant facilities as an emergency shelter to house hundreds a month, principally women and children, while operating as a drop-in center during the day. The majority of our services are provided to asylum-seekers, but we also strive to meet some of the needs of the houseless, deported, substance-using, and sex work communities.

Lately, huge numbers of asylum seekers, principally from Central America and Haiti, have been arriving to Tijuana once again as policies at the southern Mexican border, specifically in Tapachula, shift once again.

 Border Line Crisis Center plans to continue providing shelter and services with all the little resources we have, but hope to establish the support necessary to rent a separate shelter, dedicate our offices to non-shelter services, and expand our capacity for both shelter and services greatly. 

The situation at the border and in Tijuana continues to shift chaotically, affecting tens of thousands. However, grassroots projects like ours are able to shift their operations quickly to respond to these changing needs, and are a key part of creating structural change at the border. To do this, we need your support - please share our Donate Page with your friends and contacts!