Borderzine (https://borderzine.com/author/stephanie-chavez/)
Stephanie Chavez majored in multimedia journalism at UT El Paso. She was on the Borderzine staff in fall 2020.
In 2003, I graduated from kindergarten in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. I was chosen to give the last speech on graduation day. This last speech, was very important to me since I was not going to continue my education in Mexico. My family was moving to El Paso, Texas, where I was born. I practiced my speech with my mom for a couple of weeks.
As COVID-19 arrived at the borderland, many of those who frequently cross from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, but are not U.S. citizens or U.S residents, had to stay back in Mexico. For the Dynamo Futbol Club, a local amateur soccer team based in El Paso, that meant some of the players on the team that are from Ciudad Juárez were unable to finish the season. Dynamo encountered many challenges as the pandemic of COVID-19 began in the spring of 2020. Eight players who lived in Juarez were not able to cross to El Paso, after the U.S. limited entry to U.S. residents and essential travelers, such as students. Players on the team range in age from 20 to 35 years old.