US Deportees to Mexico's Tamaulipas Face a Dangerous Future Jerome Adamstein - Los Angeles Times
go to original September 8, 2012

Deportees carrying personal items in boxes provided by U.S. authorities file across the Gateway International Bridge over the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. They will soon be warned by Groupo Beta, the Mexican migrant safety force, about dangers they are about to face. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

MATAMOROS — They stuck together, walking slowly on busted sidewalks, approaching corners warily. They hurried past smoky taco stands and fleabag hotels. Nobody strayed.

Deported from Southern California the night before, the 20 men just wanted to get out of town after a fitful night’s sleep at the bus station of this sweltering border city.

“We were moving as one, like a ball,” said Rodrigo Barragon, 35, a former construction worker from Los Angeles. “But when I looked back, the ball had a tail.”

Five men were following them. Up ahead, three vehicles screeched to a stop, blocking their way down Avenida Washington. The migrants scattered, tearing down streets and alleyways, clutching small bags that held their belongings.

Hours later, they straggled through the door of the Diocese of Matamoros migrant shelter, beneath an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. A plaque beside the entryway bore a dedication: “To the 72 migrants and to those we know nothing about,” men and women who were massacred or who simply disappeared.

See Richard Marosi’s story: Deportees to Mexico’s Tamaulipas Preyed Upon By Gangs

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!