Is it easy for migrants to enter the U.S.? We went to the border to find out
NOGALES, Ariz. – It's easy to walk south from the U.S. into Mexico. What's hard is going the other way.
A team of NPR journalists experienced that for ourselves, on a bright day in March when we passed easily through a legal port of entry that separates Nogales, Arizona, from Nogales, Sonora.
We walked alongside trucks carrying goods between the two countries. This border is a boon for businesses on both sides, recently making Mexico the United States' biggest trading partner. But it's also been the source of a major political headache: the arrival of millions of migrants from across the Americas and elsewhere in the world seeking to enter the U.S.
We came here to glimpse a small part of the border on a typical day.
We entered Mexico through a quiet pedestrian access point at the Nogales port of entry, and continued about 100 yards to a shelter where dozens of migrants waited with hopes of crossing la frontera – the U.S. border, marked with large green highway signs.
Children played on a concrete floor at the entrance to the Kino Border Initiative. It was lunchtime, and volunteers milled among long tables,
