Illegal migrant crossings across the US-Mexico border persist despite the risk of being detained.
Thousands of migrants venture every day to reach the southern border of the United States despite being aware that their immigration status will prevent them from entering legally. Some decide to try their luck and “launch” irregularly to the North American country where they are detained by immigration authorities and returned to Mexico.
Far from giving up after failed attempts, some, like Luis Durán, decide to do it over and over again, hoping at some point to evade the border patrol or finally be able to access an appointment with US immigration authorities through the CBP One app.
Durán has been sleeping for two months in a makeshift camp in Matamoros, Mexico. He explains that in that period of time he has crossed into the US illegally seven times. In all of his attempts, the man would have spent 22 days in the country. “Here we are one step away, 10 minutes from America,” he said.
“They caught me in San Antonio, in Colorado (…) and they brought me here again in my uniform. A polo (shirt) and black shorts and go back,” added Durán, describing the clothes they are provided in immigration detention centers. He says he feels “almost, almost American” for as long as he’s been in the US.
Mexico: migrants remain locked in deadly fire
Durán has tried again and again despite the fact that the Department of Homeland Security has indicated that those who enter “without authorization after the announcement” of the program for nationals of Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba will be ineligible to receive humanitarian parole. that they seek protection while Title 42 remains in force, a measure that alleges health reasons to quickly expel migrants and that dates from the government of Donald Trump.
Such is the case of the Honduran María Fernanda Rodríguez, who has tried twice to cross into the United States. “The first time they stopped me two hours away from getting to Houston (Texas), and in the same week in McAllen (Texas).”
Rodríguez assured that after his crossings and spending two months sleeping in the shelter, he managed through CBP One to obtain an appointment to meet with immigration authorities. “I was held for five days in immigration and then they left me here at the Casa del Migrante,” she said, referring to a shelter located in the border city of Reynosa, Mexico. According to his testimony, in this place she has received food, water and clothing.
Nicaragua, the one that loses the most with massive migrations
Wilfredo Allen, immigration attorney, points out that in cases like that of this Honduran migrant, when requesting an interview through CBP One “it is important to put the whole truth in the application. Explain that he was returned to Mexico, that he has a credible fear, and if they accept you, you are probably going to enter without any problem with the application ”.
The lawyer highlighted a case of a Haitian client who was deported from the US almost a decade ago, and although he did not detail the criminal record, he pointed out that he recently filled out his application through CBP One, got the appointment and border authorities let him enter the country.
“Although he does not qualify for asylum because of his previous deportation and because of the crimes he committed in the United States a decade ago, he does qualify for protection from being returned. […] The most important thing is to tell the truth.”
Border Patrol data recorded in 2022 that 2.7 million people were detained while crossing illegally into the United States through the southern border.
They ask Biden to redesignate the TPS for Nicaraguan migrants
“Just knowing that we are one step away from glory and the goal. That one can look there and see the (US) flag, just one step away from crossing. But we can’t due to lack of documents because we are illegal, we don’t have a visa, we don’t have passports, we don’t have anything,” Rosario, a 24-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, said through tears, who had arrived in Matamoros hours earlier with her husband and son.
The reality of the crossing is no secret, even to the smallest migrants who know that reaching the US carries high risks.
“Some people jump into the river and don’t come back. People say that they are going to return them to the camp, and no! They are going to send them back there (to Mexico),” she said, a minor of seven years old, who sleeps in a tent in Matamoros, Mexico and whose identity we protect because she is in a vulnerable situation.
