President Trump threatened to close the border March 22 to keep immigrants from coming to the U.S. seeking asylum. He has walked back on his closure threat but it has caused great delays at the bridges. Wait times when crossing the border went up to three hours minimum which affected American citizens who visit family in Mexico and Mexican citizens who come to the U.S. for work and/or school. Many students are affected.

The threat of the border closing has been for hard for senior Alejandra Gomez.

“I’ve been so scared and worried about this whole situation, “ Gomez said. “My sleep schedule is so messed up, I have been late and missing days of school due to the traffic.”

The wait times have affected her family too.

“My mom hasn’t been able to come, she is stuck in Juarez, ” Gomez said, “So my dad has been away from her a lot because of his work.”

She does not think the situation will improve.

“I don’t think the threat will go away until the president stops trying to force his way, ” Gomez said. “I understand that so many immigrants are coming but they aren’t the issue, the broken system is.”

Junior Briana Olmos has fears of the border situation.

“The threat of the border closing really got me scared because it could put my education in danger,” Olmos said, “I really thought at one point I wouldn’t be able to come to school.”

The threat at the border closure has affected her home life.

“I don’t have as much time to spend with my loved ones because I stay with my aunt during the week to come to school,” Olmos said. “I only have two days to be with my family which is hard.”

Olmos’s family has been affected as well.

“ My mom always tell me how much she misses me because we always used to be together, ” Olmos said. “I feel guilty because she has a hard time keeping up with the house alone I used to help her with that.”  

Olmos hopes that things will get better.

“Keeping a strong faith has kept me going through this hard time,” Olmos said. “My mom tells me we will spend all summer together so that also keeps me feeling positive about this whole situation.”

Principal Antonio Acuña recognizes that students are affected by the delays at the border.

“As of right now there is no plan,” Acuña said. “Students that attend this school must live in the U.S.”

Many students are late or miss class because of the border situation.

“If a student is missing class because of this situation we would try to work with them, but they need to be here,” Acuña said. “If the border were to close, we would treat it as a regular absence.”

If the border closes, some students will be absent and that will affect federal funding.

“Money would be affected greatly but it is hard to give a solid number without knowing the amount of students,” Acuña said.

To date the district does not have anything in place in the event of the border closure.

“There is no plan because the district has yet to come up with one but some teachers could use Google Classroom to send work to those affected students,” Acuña said.