Before the arrival of Donald Trump, hundreds of migrants forget the American dream

Jessica Xantomila and Jared Laureles

La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, January 9, 2025, p. 5

Just over a week before Donald Trump assumes the presidency of the United States and applies his new immigration policy, people in transit stranded in Mexico City are rushing to try to resolve their situation, so some are already analyzing options to return to Mexico. their countries or nations where they are given asylum; others are evaluating surrendering to the US immigration authorities, while others are preparing their documents to request refuge here.

After 10 months in a camp, Yessenia, from Venezuela, assured that by not obtaining a CBP One appointment to request asylum in the United States, what she is now looking for is go back to my country to be with my family.

In Mexico, he said, life has been very difficult. I have been detained and returned from the northern border to Villahermosa, Tabasco, three times. This is my fourth time going up from Tapachula to the city.

In an interview, outside her small room in the camp set up on the banks of the train tracks in the Vallejo neighborhood, Yessenia, who is traveling alone, expressed that despite her intention to return to Venezuela, achieving it will be complicated because she does not have a passport or with an official ID.

Humanitarian flights

I only have a copy of my ID because the original was stolen along with a cell phone in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, when I was on the train.he stated. For this reason, she mentioned that if humanitarian flights were enabled from Mexico to her country of origin, she would take one.

Another migrant woman, a Colombian-Venezuelan who preferred to omit her name, explained that together with some companions who live in the same camp, they are looking for options to travel to other countries to request asylum.

Our chances of entering the United States are lower this year than last, because the new president takes office and we don’t know what he is going to do. I don’t want to be deported and before that happens we are looking for another option such as flying to Canada or Spain. We don’t want to walk anymorehe acknowledged.

The woman, who is traveling with a four-year-old girl, shared that she left her country with the dream of raising my family, that is why I cannot return empty-handed. What am I going to do in my country with debts? Without a home?

Among the foreign residents of the camp, where 110 boys and girls live – according to civil organizations estimates – there are also some who want to request refuge in Mexico. That is the case of Luis Manuel Martínez, a Venezuelan, who arrived in the Vallejo neighborhood 20 days ago.

He explained that his situation is atypical because he and his family have already managed to enter the United States but for discrimination against Hispanics They preferred to return.

We deliver in El Paso Texas. They detained us for a day and then they released us because I have children there. We were in Chicago and Florida, but we didn’t like it. There is a lot of racismhe asserted.