Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
CNN
—
Nine-year-old Motarvi cannot remember the last time he was in a classroom.
She and her three family members left Venezuela in July, taking her dog, Linda, on a perilous journey. I traveled thousands of miles across South and Central America to reach my dream destination, the United States.
From his encampment in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on the border of El Paso, Texas, Rubi describes the past five months as an adventure. “Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala,” she told CNN in mid-November, listing all the places she’s visited.
Her father, Francisco, is less optimistic. His family crossed the border twice, but was deported by U.S. authorities. They were later forced out of their camp by Mexican police during clashes, their tents burned down, and now Ciudad He lives in a small rented house in Juárez.
When CNN caught up with them over the weekend, Francisco said he was worried about child trafficking and the power of cartels. That’s why he was planning a third trip to the US on Wednesday, when his controversial Trump-era border policy expires.
Known as Title 42, the policy allows U.S. Border Patrol agents to immediately turn away immigrants who have crossed the southern border illegally since March 2020. Everything is done in the name of Covid-19 prevention. Nearly 2.5 million people have been deported, most under the Biden administration, preparing for an influx of arrivals should authorities be lifted.
But on Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily suspended the repeal of the border deportation policy pending a judge’s decision on the Republican-led state’s appeal. That is, banishment may continue.
The order doesn’t necessarily reflect the final outcome of the case, but while it leaves many immigrants like Rubi and her father at a standstill, U.S. officials are wary of the expected border crossings. Giving room to breathe from the rush of passing.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Reaser declared a state of emergency over the weekend in response to an increase in people arriving in the community and living in unsafe conditions. On Monday, he said the city “continues to move forward” as if Title 42 had been lifted, adding that “probably over 20,000″ migrants were massing at the Mexican border. We will continue to prepare for what is to come,” he added.
His counterpart in Ciudad Juárez, Perez Cuerra, has also noticed an increase in arrivals in recent weeks. “It’s an immigrant city here,” he told CNN, referring to the border town about seven miles from the town of El Paso.
But this time travelers are not here to stay. “They are just trying to cross the border.
Cuellar is concerned that immigrants may become vulnerable targets for organized crime, and before the crackdown a decade ago, the city once known as the murder capital of the country was rife with newcomers. We provide shelter.
The immigrants CNN spoke to at the border were all Venezuelan, and many left Venezuela due to the country’s deteriorating economic situation, food shortages and limited access to medical care, according to experts.
In 2021, a UN special rapporteur blamed Western sanctions against Venezuela to put pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro for worsening Venezuela’s economic situation. rapidly declining economy.
There are currently about 7.1 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants outside the country. According to United Nations data, and the majority live in Latin America and the Caribbean. The growing Venezuelan community in the United States is becoming more attractive, experts say. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested her more than 33,000 Venezuelan citizens in September, an increase of about 30% from the previous month, according to officials. latest data.
The Venezuelan Gutierrez family had more luck than anyone else when they crossed the Rio Grande River, which separates Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, in November. U.S. Border Patrol agents brought in Jolibel Gutierrez, her husband Franklin, and her five-year-old son without question.
After seven days of immigration detention in El Paso, they were conditionally released, Jolibel said. The family now lives in Indianapolis, near Joliebel’s brother, awaiting a court hearing in January to determine his future in the United States.
They’re staying in an apartment owned by a friend of her brother’s, but the family hasn’t left the place for weeks. I don’t want to do bad things like collecting money,” she said in Spanish.
After making great sacrifices to leave Venezuela, Franklin said his aim was to find a job, “move forward” and create a future for his children, while Joliebel is pregnant with his second child. “From here, we can help[Venezuela’s]families,” Jolibel said. “The salary there is $10 every other week, or $20 a month, and chicken is $12. Things are tough,” he added.
Even though his future in the U.S. is still undecided, Joliebel recognizes he is luckier than others, and has heard stories of his cross-border comrades being deported to Mexico City and Tijuana. “I feel really sorry for a lot of people because they fought, they struggled, they lost their families in the jungle, just like us. I mean, it’s hard.”
Rafael Rojas of Venezuela is one of them. He crossed the Rio Grande hours after Jolibel, but instead of being welcomed, he was handcuffed and deported to the coastal city of Tijuana, some 700 miles away.
Rojas’ journey to Mexico was a difficult one, crossing the infamous 37 miles of jungle known as the Darien Gap, carrying migrants to Panama via Colombia.
Its key passageway history from South America is riddled with reports of robberies, dead bodies, mutilations and rapes. In a final text message exchange with CNN, he said he would not stop traveling to the United States.
Back in Ciudad Juárez, Rubi told CNN that he wanted to go to school in New York, explaining in Spanish that he wanted to “learn English.”
Francisco has quit his job in the Venezuelan military, so returning to Venezuela is not an option for her family. “I am … practically escaping (abandoned) and unable to set foot in Venezuela,” he said.
They made the difficult decision to leave the dog with a caretaker in Mexico, but Francisco is confident that his family’s future—a better one—is on the other side of the border.
