Hundreds attend refugee job fair

Jessica Xantomila

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, September 7, 2024, p. 12

Hoping to find a job that not only allows them to support themselves, but is formal and comfortable enough to even develop professionally, around 450 refugees and refugee applicants in Mexico attended the Job Fair, organized by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar), the National Employment Service and the United Nations Refugee Agency.

People from Haiti, Cuba, Colombia, El Salvador and Venezuela, among other nationalities, arrived at the facilities of the civil organization Casa Refugiados (also the organizer) in Mixcoac, where they received information from around 40 companies that offered positions in sales, construction, nursing, warehouse supervision, telemarketing and as driver assistants and transport operators, among others.

One of the first to arrive was Cuban Alaín Martínez, who shared that when he heard about this call, a week ago, he decided to leave his job as a loader in a warehouse located in the Historic Center to look for vacancies as a cashier in a department store, since that is what he worked in on the island.

He said that he arrived in Mexico on July 7, having been forced to leave his country due to the economic situation he is facing. due to the US blockade and other government causes.

In an interview, he stressed that for migrants and refugees who do not have information about companies where they can be employed in Mexico, it is more difficult to have access to better-paid work. Many of us are professionals and we want a decent job in line with what we studied. I have a degree in sociocultural studies.he stressed.

Andrea, a fictitious name to protect her identity, who has been living in Mexico for five years, also attended the fair. The woman, a Salvadoran refugee, said that she has been very difficult their social and work integration, since they have suffered discrimination and even extortion.

He said he left El Salvador for political persecutionleaving behind the family businesses, including a travel agency, as well as her work as a promoter in national banking.

It’s very difficult, because there we had everything and then you come here with nothing.lamented Andrea, who said that in these years in Mexico she and her husband have worked in hotels: He is in maintenance and I am in cleaning and maid..

Gerardo Talavera, general director of the Casa Refugiados Program, explained that those who already have this status and those who are in the process often face obstacles in finding employment due to lack of information from companies and lack of documents.

They must have valid documents to first break the process of discrimination and bad comments from people who, although they do not have to be experts in migration or refuge, should have the ability to understand that legal certainty for people exists and is valid.held.