Oscar, 12, has just docked in Texas after crossing the Rio Grande on a boat piloted by smugglers. “I came on my own,” he said after a dangerous month-long trip from Guatemala.
“I came here because we had nothing to eat,” this thin boy with big black eyes, scared and hungry, who arrived on Saturday at nightfall in Roma, a small American town, told AFP. on the Mexican border, with several migrant families.
Before leaving, “my mother said to me:” + don’t cry +. But I cried, “says Oscar, the only child of a single housekeeper, who cannot hold back her tears.
He hopes to soon be reunited with his uncle, who has lived in Los Angeles for 15 years.
The worst part of the trip, he says, was the 12 hours spent in an unventilated semi-trailer full of migrants near the border with Mexico. “It was hot and people started to pass out,” he recalls.
But he also keeps the memory of a friend found along the way, from whom he was later separated.
“He told me not to give up, that we had to get there, with the mercy of God. And he also told me that I will have a better life” in the United States, explains Oscar.
“I’m going to be able to study, I’m going to learn how to get my mother to come,” he said.
Daily arrivals
More than 70 undocumented migrants – mostly from Guatemala and Honduras, but also two from Romania – crossed the Rio Grande from the Mexican shore that evening.
Among them, about twenty unaccompanied children and adolescents, some barely seven years old. After disembarking, they walked a few hundred meters to get to the border police officers.
The authorities will try to reunite the minors with their relatives living in the United States. Some families will be released pending their hearing before an asylum judge, others will be deported. Adults arriving alone are all deported, the government assures us.
The scene is repeated almost daily, and some nights, migrants are several hundred in Roma, according to residents.
The chronic problem of illegal immigration to the United States has put Democratic President Joe Biden on the defensive, just two months after taking office.
Republicans accuse him of not having completely sealed off the nearly 3,200 km border with Mexico and accuse him of having caused the influx of thousands of migrants.
Progressive Democrats accuse him of not accepting more migrants and of delaying in improving their reception conditions while the detention centers are overflowing with people.
Mr. Biden, who wants to turn the page on Donald Trump’s migration policy, ensures that the border is closed and that most migrants are expelled quickly.
“Fill a gap”
“We will not send any child under 18 on this perilous journey,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told Fox News on Sunday.
But, she stressed, “that doesn’t mean they will be able to stay in the United States. Their case is going to be investigated and we want to treat them humanely and make sure they are safe in the meantime.”
In February, nearly 100,000 migrants crossed the border illegally, a return to mid-2019 levels after a slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 9,400 unaccompanied minors have surrendered to authorities, 28% more than in January. And in March, more than 14,000 arrived, according to authorities, who believe the number will continue to rise.
More than a dozen migrants interviewed by AFP explained that their main reason for emigrating was misery, violence and unemployment, conditions worsened by the pandemic and the recent hurricanes in their countries, especially in Honduras, Salvador and Guatemala.
Many children and young people dream of reuniting with their parents whom they have not seen for years.
Barely disembarked, Diego, 17, was lent a phone to call his mother, who left Guatemala in the United States when he was only one month old.
“She started to cry and I started to cry too, because I haven’t seen her for 17 years,” he explains. “I feel a great void in my heart and I want to fill this void with his love”.
28/03/2021 17:30:12 – Roma (Etats-Unis) (AFP) – © 2021 AFP
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