The dawning sun shines down on the pavement leading to Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, slowly warming the desert chill.
The heat is a much needed respite for the hundreds of migrants from Central and South America seeking shelter and protection near the century-old church.
Wrapped in jackets and American Red Cross blankets seen in humanitarian crises the world over, the asylum seekers, many of whom have journeyed for months to reach the US, have been sleeping in the rough in near-freezing temperatures.
They have been coming in record numbers since August, flooding the streets of El Paso, a frontier city bordering Juarez, Mexico. The US city has a higher-than-average poverty rate, which puts constraints on how much support is available.
“Our community is a resilient one,” said Peter Svarzbein, a former El Paso City council member.
“We're not the most prosperous city in the United States or in Texas but we're full of love and compassion.”
Nowhere in the city is that generosity more evident than outside of Sacred Heart Church, which lies a few hundred metres from the border in historic El Segundo Barrio, once known as the “other Ellis Island”.
It is an area of low-slung houses and colourful murals, where Mexican and American culture mix seamlessly. The vibrant area is anchored by the redbrick church that dominates its skyline.
English and Spanish can be heard in equal measure on the neighbourhood's streets.
Church volunteers gather daily to offer warm meals and comfort to the migrants, most of whom have crossed illegally into the US, hoping to seek asylum.
“[It’s been] very challenging,” explained Rafael Garcia, the priest at Sacred Heart.
“We sort of started from zero. We did not have a shelter, we had to start getting volunteers on a day-by-day basis to provide food and clothing.”
At its peak in mid-December, as many as 2,400 migrants were crossing into the city every day.
While the crossings have slowed in recent weeks, the city remains at the forefront of a growing problem for the administration of US President Joe Biden.
Last Sunday, Mr Biden briefly visited El Paso before heading to Mexico for the North American Leaders Summit.
Mr Biden toured Bridge of the Americas, the city’s busiest port of entry. He met US Customs and Border Protection agents who have been grappling with the record number of migrants attempting to enter the country.
The Border Patrol apprehended about 2.4 million people in the last fiscal year — which ended in September — the highest number ever recorded.
Before his four-hour trip to the border, the President announced that he would be expanding Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows the US to turn away asylum seekers for health safety reasons.
Under the administration's new immigration policy, migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba will be returned to Mexico if they enter the US illegally.
The administration is trying to discourage migrants from crossing illegally by providing a new, legal pathway for them to apply for a parole programme online from their home countries.
But immigration experts have roundly condemned the new policy.
“The administration is trying to kind of play both sides and appeal to nativists and restrictionists while also trying to present this kind of mirage that the United States is living up to its human rights obligations when it's not,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project.
Many of the migrants are fleeing economic and political instability that have forced them to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Those already in El Paso do not have the option to apply legally through the new programme and are stuck in limbo.
“They're fleeing an oppressive government and they had to leave on probably short notice, like most people that are in forced migration,” Fr Garcia told The National.
“They're here now with a hope of asking for asylum, like you can in most parts of the world, and that option is blocked.”
Fr Garcia said he is committed to helping those outside his church but he worries “what's going to happen to them” now that they have no legal avenue to claim asylum.
During his stopover, the President did not visit Fr Garcia’s Parish.
If he had, he would have seen a community working hard to help those in need and trying to keep a sliver of the American dream alive for those still seeking it.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
'Nope'
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SPEC SHEET
Display: 10.9" Liquid Retina IPS, 2360 x 1640, 264ppi, wide colour, True Tone, Apple Pencil support
Chip: Apple M1, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 64/256GB storage; 8GB RAM
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, Smart HDR
Video: 4K @ 25/25/30/60fps, full HD @ 25/30/60fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR, Centre Stage; full HD @ 25/30/60fps
Audio: Stereo speakers
Biometrics: Touch ID
I/O: USB-C, smart connector (for folio/keyboard)
Battery: Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi; up to 9 hours on cellular
Finish: Space grey, starlight, pink, purple, blue
Price: Wi-Fi – Dh2,499 (64GB) / Dh3,099 (256GB); cellular – Dh3,099 (64GB) / Dh3,699 (256GB)
The biog
Name: Marie Byrne
Nationality: Irish
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption
Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston
Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams
