The Atlantic

Purgatory at the Border

Families fleeing gang violence are stuck at a pedestrian bridge between the U.S. and Mexico. They’re hungry, exhausted, and scared for their lives.
Source: Jeremy Raff

MATAMOROS, Mexico—When drug traffickers shot Wayner Berduo seven times last year, they didn’t stop there. The men nearly beat him to death with their pistol grips, police reports say. One bullet pierced Berduo’s eye socket, so after the attack, surgeons removed his left eye and stitched back together his face and his right arm, which now hangs limply by his side.

For days, Berduo has waited hours at a time in the long line of day-trippers, shoppers, and commuters headed for

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