Angela Kocherga

CIUDAD JUAREZ --It’s been more than six months since the U.S. and Mexico border closed to all but essential travel to slow the spread of COVID-19. The disruption of lives and livelihoods has been widespread on both sides during the pandemic. 

Marco Antonio Corral, 60, has watched it all unfold from the middle of the Paso del Norte Bridge where just over the borderline on the Mexican side he peddles potato chips and cold water to drivers and passengers stuck in idling cars calling out “Papitas! Agua!”  

El PASO --KTEP's Angela Kocherga interviews Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan during a stop in El Psao to tour a section of border wall.  Morgan talked about what he calls the "wall system" and answered questions about a private barrier built by "We Build the Wall." The founder of that organization and president Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon were indicted for fraud and money laundering tied to the fundraising for the private wall.

EL PASO -- William Englisbee embodies the quiet strength of the city he calls home. 

“Every day’s a struggle,” said Englisbee at Evergreen Cemetery east recently where he was paying respects to his mother. Angelina Maria Silva de Englisbee was among 23 people gunned down at an El Paso Walmart a year ago.  She was 86.

KTEP's Angela Kocherga and guest co-host Alfredo Corchado, Mexico border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News  based in El Paso continue their series of COVID-19 conversations with authors, historians and researchers. Borderland historian and author of Ringside Seat to the Revolution David Romo discusses the health, economic and political implications of pandemics then and now and lessons as El Paso and the region copes with COVID-19.

KTEP's Angela Kocherga begins a series of conversations about COVID-19 that go beyond the grim numbers to examine some of the issues and disparities exposed by the pandemic. Angela and guest co-host Alfredo Corchado, Mexico border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News based in El Paso, interview authors, historians and researchers.

The following story was produced in partnership with El Paso Matters

The frantic phone calls came in a cluster. In less than 24 hours multiple women reached out to me from inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in El Paso. They expressed a mix of emotions from fear to frustration to helplessness as they talked about a COVID-19 outbreak in the El Paso processing center.

EL PASO – Hundreds of protestors gathered in El Paso Sunday night chanting “I can’t breathe” as they marched to El Paso Police Department headquarters. 

“I want to be out here with my brothers and sisters that I go to school with and make sure that we all have a voice for later on in life,” said 21-year-old Zachary Greenhoward.

El Paso -- Carmen Lugo cannot imagine being cooped up during the COVID-19 quarantine without her best friend. 

“She’s turned out to be the best little dog. She does everything but talk,” Lugo said. 

Bunny was a “ball of fluff” puppy when she arrived Easter morning 2013. Lugo and her white poodle terrier mix have been inseparable ever since.

“Don’t ever underestimate the power of a pet. They make you think. They make you move. They give you a lot of love,” said the 75-year-old retired hairdresser.