On a side street about five minutes from the U.S. border, a two-story building rises in an empty, dusty lot in Mexicali, Mexico, where families fleeing persecution and violence arrive, wait and hope to be accepted as refugees in America.
Families from Mexico and Central and South America walk into Cobina Posada Del Migrante with little more than the clothes on their back and a dream to live in America in prosperity and peace. The shelter, which accepts only families, can house about 250 people, according to shelter director Elizabeth Gallardo, "but we've had up to 500 people at once," she said in Spanish.
"This is a secure shelter," she added, where no single men are allowed.
