by Cynthia Romero

For those living in a country where drug war violence is an everyday occurrence, the evidence can be seen everywhere in border communities like El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. As the violence escalates, as measured by the rising death toll, its political, social and economic effects continue to weigh heavily on the sister cities and their residents. 

“The moving of people from Juárez to El Paso isn’t anything new,” says UTEP political science professor Howard Campbell. “However, these people are virtually being expelled from their city because of safety issues.”

Many residents of Cd. Juárez leave much of their family behind in Mexico to start a new life in El Paso, but for some UTEP students such as art major Luis Porras, who endures a difficult daily commute to school, say they could never really settle in either city.

“Even though I go to school here and work here and I live in Juárez, I know that I never really feel like I’m at home,” Luis says. “I mean, I have all my friends and family in Juárez, but I have my work here.” Luis, 23, who has been attending UTEP since 2003, says he was living in El Paso with roommates in 2006, but had to move back to Juárez for financial reasons. “I want to dedicate myself to school, to painting. I need to be doing it all the time, so I’ve chosen to maybe move to El Paso so that I can be closer to school.”

Luis admits he has become desensitized by the onslaught of media coverage, but he also says there are reminders of the constant wave of violence looming over the city he loves. “I love Juárez, there is no other place in the world like Juárez, but it simply isn’t safe,” he says. “For example, just three blocks from my house is where they killed the professor from UACJ (Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez). I walk past where he was killed almost everyday.”

A painter with big goals, Luis says the decision to move to the United States does not imply an absolute disconnection from his birthplace. “When I finally settle wherever I settle, I won’t stop going to Juárez,” he says. “It means so much for me that I can’t just let it go. I think everyone wants to escape and I’m sure that if there was a way for them to do so they would, but I think until then, one learns to manage.”

UTEP associate political science professor, Irasema Coronado, says she doesn’t believe that the number of students coming to live in El Paso will increase much. “Juárez is attractive. It’s cheaper anyway,” Coronado says. “Many students don’t have the luxury of living here; it’s just easier to live with their families.”

Sara Chávez, a UTEP sophomore communication major, is one of those students. Sara says she lives in Juárez under a constant cloud of fear, but hopes the violence will mitigate. “I’ve been crossing the border for the past four years, and it is always a pain. There is always fear,” says Sara. “I don’t even go out anymore really into the streets like I used to. Everything has changed.” 

Living in El Paso is not an option for her, she says. The rent is too expensive and all her family lives in Juárez. “I don’t think that I would live here in El Paso even if I could afford it,” she says. “I would miss all my family too much, and I don’t think it’d be too fair for me to leave them in an unsafe place just so that I can be safe too.”

I mean, I have all my friends and family in juarez, but i have my work my here

Sara says that while commuting has been the hardest thing yet, she knows that it is essential for her future plans. “I eventually want to work in a digital media production company somewhere, and I know I’ll have to move to California or somewhere like that,” she says. “But for right now, I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be, I just have to be a lot more cautious.”

Assistant anthropology professor, Nina Núñez-Mchiri, says the decision to move to El Paso isn’t always black and white. Núñez says that several of her students have tried to move from Juárez to El Paso. “I’ve seen it first-hand. There’s always a lot of stigma about the people who come from Juárez to El Paso, but in talking and dealing with my students, I’ve seen how hard their struggle is,” she says.

Núñez-Mchiri also says that she teaches students who commute between the two cities on a daily basis. “One of my recent students was married to a maquiladora (assembly plant) worker and she was desperately trying to bring him over to El Paso,” Núñez-Mchiri says. “She said she felt it wasn’t safe for both of them and she was able to get the support of the church behind them, financially and spiritually. For her, it was a constant struggle, but she finally did it.”

Luis, who plans to graduate in May 2010, says that while he may never find the perfect balance between work and family, he is never going to let that take him away from his hometown of Juárez. “The fact that I’ve been assaulted before in Juárez and had my car taken away or the fact that I live just a few blocks from where murder has occurred makes me aware, but it doesn’t make me fearful to the point where I’ll stop,” he says. “For me, it’s a fact of life I have to deal with and continue to live.”

Editor’s note: This article was previously published on www.borderzine.com, a web-based project of UTEP’s Department of Communication.