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Since November 7, the United States has reopened its land and air borders to tourists and vaccinated visitors. However, asylum seekers are not concerned. Crossing the border is still prohibited for migrants, whether vaccinated or not, due to a health measure. The latter are then automatically turned away. This paradoxical situation kills asylum seekers in Tijuana, who fear for their safety and angered civil organizations.
La Casa del Migrante, a refuge on the heights of Tijuana, accommodates a hundred migrants, mainly Mexican families who hope to go to the United States. This is the case of Marcos, Rosa and their two children. They fled their home in Michoacan overnight under threat from a criminal group. They took the road north and crossed over to American soil to seek asylum.
« When we got to San Diego, they arrested us. With my wife and my children, we thought they would help us. We stayed one day. The next day, they deported us to Tijuana. Among themselves, they spoke only in English. At no time did they explain to us why they couldn’t help us. They didn’t give us the chance to present the documents we had either. »
« They gave us a sheet of paper that says we were kicked out by Title 42. »
Despite the reopening of the border to tourists, this health measure introduced by Donald Trump is still in force. ” It’s discrimination ! Title 42 does nothing other than discriminate, as if those who seek asylum are contagious while those who will spend the money, those who are not … »
In Tijuana, migrants wait at the border
It was impossible for the family to turn back. For three months, she has been stuck at the border. Faced with this situation, Jessica Tapia, director of the International Organization for Migration in Tijuana, can only see how the city is under pressure: “ What they want, especially the families arriving, is to cross in a safe manner. And have an option to do it legally. So they stay longer and longer in Tijuana and it is a challenge for the reception structures and the services are saturated. ».
The means are lacking and those who come to the aid of migrants on the ground feel powerless, like Father Patricio Murphy who runs the refuge: “ Every day people arrive seeking refuge or applying for asylum and we have to tell them that asylum does not exist at the moment. And we don’t know when it will open ».
All depend on an opening of American policy: ” We have already had demonstrations, protests, we wrote open letters to Biden to make a decision, because people need a decision ».
Rosa’s family have no choice but to wait for the moment. Endangered in Mexico, she still hopes to be able to build a new safe life in the United States: ” We want to go back there to ask for asylum, when it will be allowed again, so that they at least give us the chance to listen to us. We left our whole life built there to come here and seek asylum. We don’t come out of desire, but out of necessity ».
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