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A woman stands next to a hole that has been repaired in
the fence between Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, New Mexico.
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Las Americas was officially born on May 1, 1987.
A true El Paso-grown organization, Las Americas has developed a
rich history and excellent reputation for assisting immigrants and
refugees.
El Paso has long served as one of the most crossed borders
in the world.
For years, persons have migrated through the area
for a wide variety of reasons.
Beginning in the late 1970’s
and early 1980’s, a large influx of Central American refugees
flooded El Paso. These persons were fleeing the conflicts in Central
America and were looking for safety in the United States.
During
this time, Ruben Garcia ran a home for displaced persons known as
Annunciation House. At "A House," as Annunciation House is known,
the staff was seeing a large influx of refugees from the war-torn
countries of Central America.
These persons were seeking asylum
but it is a long and complicated process.
The staff attempted to
assist persons in filing asylum applications and finding for them
attorneys if their cases were sent to the Immigration Court.
Staff
also began to go to the INS detention center to help asylum seekers
who were detained.
Eventually however, the staff was overwhelmed,
INS refused to allow them to enter the detention center.
It became
obvious trained legal assistance was needed to help those persons
who were in El Paso and were seeking asylum because they feared
returning to their home countries.
Mr. Garcia took the initiative to create such a program
in El Paso to help these refugees.
He consulted with Dan Kesselbrenner
of the National Immigration Project, Daniel Katz of Proyecto Libertad
in Harlingen, Texas and with local church and civic leaders to strategize
on the creation of a legal assistance office for asylum seekers.
From these meetings came Las Americas and its first Board of Directors,
of whom Mr. Garcia was the first President.
Most of the initial
support for Las Americas came from local religious organizations
from various denominations.
Las Americas was initially housed at Annunciation
House at 815 Myrtle Avenue in El Paso's Segundo Barrio.
The Board hired Tom Spaniolo as the
first director and attorney of the agency and Rosa Benedicto as
the first secretary and paralegal.
Delia Gomez was brought on as
the agency’s Executive Director in January of 1988, with Mr.
Spaniolo remaining as staff attorney.
Two years later, having outgrown
the space at 815 Myrtle Avenue, Las Americas moved down the street, to
a home converted into an office building.
At first, Las Americas
focused on direct legal services and had a group of volunteers to
assist in the preparing of asylum applications.
But soon, Las Americas
also began to advocate on issues involving refugees, detainees and
immigrants.
The project expanded to also become involved in issues
of border enforcement, Border Patrol abuse and legislation affecting
immigrants and their families. Las Americas partnered at local,
state and national levels with other groups working on these same
issues.
By the mid-1990’s the agency began to assist children
and women detained by the INS through its Justice for Women and
Children Project.
After more than ten years at the helm of Las Americas,
Ms. Gomez left the agency in the late 1990’s but the work
has continued.
Las Americas now includes a Battered Immigrant Women
Project to provide outreach and services to immigrants who are victims
of domestic violence and other crimes, as well as a communtiy organizing group and health promoter program, Mujeres Unidas por La Justicia, Educacion y Respeto (MUJER), geared at educating and empowering immigrant women
in El Paso in the areas of domestic violence, communicable diseases
and environmental health.
In 2002, Las Americas moved from Myrtle Ave. to 106 E. Yandell and in 2006 purchased the building at 1500 E. Yandell Dr. the center's current location.
Las Americas continues to be the
one of the only non-profit legal service provider for persons seeking asylum
and children detained by INS, while attempting to grow and evolve
to address the needs of the immigrant community in El Paso, west
Texas and southern New Mexico. |
