Morning Migration

Ophelia Cervantes would wake before dawn, reluctantly dragging herself out of bed to get ready for school.

While her classmates at Lopez High School in Brownsville clung to the dulcet remnants of their slumber, Cervantes, 17, packed in a quick breakfast before heading for the Gateway International Bridge.

Crossing from Matamoros to Brownsville in the morning can take up to an hour, so Cervantes — who asked that her name be changed to protect her identity — spent the time in line to get ahead on her school work.

“I live in Matamoros and cross the bridge to Brownsville every day,” Cervantes said, “and I’ve been doing this since my sophomore year.”

Once in Brownsville, she’d drop off her younger sister at middle school, leaving just enough time to get to Lopez for her first class at 8:45 a.m.

The Cervantes girls are not alone. Every morning when school is in session school-age children pour across the bridge from Matamoros to attend classes in Brownsville.

Small children walk hand in hand with their parents, toting oversized Dora the Explorer and Spiderman backpacks. Older students carry the mesh packs required at the school district’s middle and high schools.

“I walk across then take a city bus to Southmost and from there I catch the school bus to Lopez,” said one teenager, who declined to give his name.

They come from a variety of circumstances and backgrounds. Some are U.S. citizens, others aren’t, but they all hold fast to the belief that their future is brighter on this side of the river.

To attend a Brownsville public school, students must provide district officials with a birth certificate, immunization records, a Social Security number, transcripts from previous schools and a document showing proof of residence, such as a utility or mortgage statement.

However, access to a public education, regardless of legal status, is protected by the Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe. As long as a student can show he or she lives inside district boundaries that school district cannot deny them an education.

“As long as they reside within the Brownsville Independent School District students have the right to (attend) school here,” said Silvia Perez, administrator for admissions and attendance at Brownsville ISD. “We investigate all alleged cases of students living in Matamoros and not Brownsville and if in fact they aren’t living in Brownsville we withdraw them because residency is the one requirement we do have.”

The school district has no method for tracking the number of students who actually live outside the district, according to Perez, as that is not part of the dialogue school officials have with them.

Zaira Gabriela Garate was one of Brownsville ISD’s best students. The 18-year-old recently graduated top of her class from Porter High School in Brownsville and will attend MIT in the fall, where she plans on studying aerospace engineering.

She’s also a U.S. citizen, not that it mattered. She wasn’t a Brownsville resident.

Garate lived in Matamoros, but her parents wanted her to attend high school in Brownsville.

To fulfill the residency requirement, Garate moved in with an aunt in Brownsville.

On school days she lived with her aunt, but weekends were spent with her parents in Matamoros. As far as Brownsville ISD was concerned Garate lived inside the district.

“You can see there are way more resources in Brownsville’s classrooms,” she said. “Every room has a computer.”

She’s grateful for the resources provided to students in American schools, but her appreciation is tempered with frustration for what she sees as her classmates’ lack of appreciation for such luxuries.

“They don’t take education for what it is,” she said. “I was taught that education is the only way I could afford a good life for my family. There are thousands of students in Matamoros that wish they had the opportunities we have here and (Brownsville’s students) are just throwing it away.”

Like Garate, Cervantes attended schools in Matamoros until high school. And like Cervantes, Garate’s parents wanted to her to attend school in Brownsville, but she was reluctant to leave behind her familiar surroundings and even more worried about the language gap. Eventually she gave in and made the switch, using the address of an aunt in Brownsville.

“My mom decided it would be better if I went to school in Brownsville,” she said. “Let me tell you, there is a big difference.”

Cervantes described her schooling in Matamoros as lacking the necessities of a proper education, but mostly she decided to leave because she saw school in Brownsville as an opportunity.

She’s taking summer courses at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, but isn’t sure if she’ll complete a degree at that university.

“If I would have gone to high school in Matamoros I wouldn’t have had the same opportunities,” Cervantes said. “I want to have a better future. I’m also looking to help my parents.”

Anelsen@brownsvilleherald.com