'What's a migrant?'

"What's a migrant?"

The question from her then-7-year-old daughter stumped Lauren Villagran. The Paste BN Network and El Paso Times border and immigration reporter spends her full-time job writing about every aspect of the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the simple thought felt overwhelmingly complex.

Her answer: "No one is a migrant forever. Migrants are people who embark on a journey, leaving their home country for a new place to create a better life." And later, they become the people you know in your communities.

👋 Nicole Fallert here, and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Villagran about her reporting from the border on migrants entering the U.S.

But first, don't miss these stories made possible by your Paste BN subscription (and scroll below for more our the week's best stories from Paste BN:

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Telling a 'richer, truer story' about the southern border

One of the strengths of Paste BN is having reporters on the ground across the nation, said Villagran, who lives in El Paso, Texas, and reports on the political, economic and social aspects of this dynamic space in contemporary American history. Her daily task is to answer that perennial question: Who really are migrants?

"There's no one better to tell the stories than people who live there," Villagran said. "When you have journalists on both sides of the border, you get a richer, truer story."

For those like her who live along the border, Villagran describes the area "like a door" some people pass through easily while others must wait for it to be unlocked: "There's a lot going on at any given time."

Something that might be lost in media coverage is that migration patterns at the border are constantly shifting. Sometimes it's a very visible process, she said, exemplifying the current attention on migrants occupying spaces in U.S. cities like Chicago, New York and San Diego, where they have arrived and are seeking shelter and resources. But it's important to remember that this story represents just one of many interacting migration systems occurring at once in our country, she said.

While migrants are people seeking shelter in our cities, they are also the people lined up in the dark at 5:30 a.m. at official ports of entry for appointments to reach the U.S. through lawful pathways, she said. Or they're people she has watched U.S. authorities forcibly place on planes back to their home countries.

"It's really dramatic," she said. "It's men and women chained at the waist, in handcuffs, with chains around their feet who are put on a plane toward more than 150 countries around the world."

Hear Lauren on the 5 Things podcast: What pressure is migration putting on US cities?

Villagran wants Paste BN readers to remember that the conversation about migration in the U.S. is "incredibly political." A more static narrative of migration is often deployed by different political sides for their own advantage.

For example, with record numbers of migrants apprehended at the southern border, there have been questions raised about a new Biden administration policy that was meant to stem migration. Biden adopted the rule to address surging migration after the expiration of Title 42, a COVID-19 pandemic policy that allowed the U.S. to cite fears of spreading the virus as a reason to expel migrants.

But the right solution is far more ambiguous than red or blue, she said. And speaking to people on the ground helps her as a reporter process an experience that for many Americans is altogether unimaginable.

"To do the reporting is to speak to all the people affected," she said. "That means talking to migrants on their journey, people in detention or facing removal as much as local officials and holding them accountable."

Read more headlines about migration from Paste BN and the Paste BN Network:

• Here's what life is like for migrants in a shelter at the US-Mexico border.
• Abbott to New Yorkers: Biden at fault for the 15,000 migrants Texas has sent to their city.
• The Biden administration will offer temporary protection to nearly half a million Venezuelans.
• Biden's speech at the U.N. was overshadowed by a migrant crisis just across the street in NYC.

Thank you

Speaking with Villagran this week reminded me not to take any of my privileges for granted, especially when it comes to citizenship. I am so thankful our newsroom highlights stories that not only produce accountability but unveil new perspectives that challenge conventional thinking. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription. Our work wouldn't be possible without you. 

Best wishes,