In Mexican border camps, families ‘waiting for US doors to open’ | Migration News

Reynosa, Mexico – * Albert *, 36, and his 10-year-old son arrived at the U.S. border last week, hoping to end a month-long journey with Honduran smugglers ready to end them in a happy reunion with their Florida cousins.

But after crossing the Rio Grande River into Texas, U.S. border patrol agents picked up Albert and his son, took them to the Mexico Bridge, and escorted them.

“I lost everything on the trip here, I have nowhere to go,” Albert said, urging Al Jazeera not to use his real name for fear of being identified by kidnappers trapping people on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the Mexican border town of Reynosa, home to nearly a million people, Albert saw a tent-filled plaza. Hundreds of families have been camped here since the COVID-19 pandemic began to close the U.S. border to asylum seekers.

“They gave me a tent to sleep in,” he said, standing in the muddy camp. “Everything got wet last night and I started crying.”

‘There is no place here’

Across Reynosa, crowds of Central American or Haitian citizens live in camps, shelters, or homes awaiting extinction. limitations related to coronavirus this will allow the U.S. to repel most asylum seekers on the southern border of Mexico.

Construction has created a humanitarian problem for the last six months — the Reynosa camp began to form around June — while the flow of people has not been interrupted.

The number of people reaching the southern border of the United States is at a level Unseen since the early 2000s, said Adam Isacson, who controls the frontier in the research and promotion team at the Latin American Office in Washington.

The number of people fleeing has been largely driven by the rise Central American countries and among the many crises in Haiti, Isacson told Al Jazeera that others are also coming from South America. The economic crisis that has worsened as a result of COVID-19 and the release of pandemic-related travel restrictions have also boosted migration in recent months.

But the pandemic restrictions that block most U.S. asylum applications continue – and Mexico’s border cities are being met.

“There’s no place for all these people to go here,” said Felicia Rangel, a fellow volunteer director. Sidewalk School for Asylum Seekers, An organization that provides schooling to Texas border children by the end of 2019.

“However, buses and vans continue to come in every day,” Rangel told Al Jazeera in an interview in the office opposite the Reynosa campground.

42. title

In 2019, then-President Donald Trump launched a program Protocols for migrant protection (MPP), also known as “Stay in Mexico”.

The alleged policy forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed in U.S. courts. Tens of thousands returned from the United States to Mexico and built there a large camp He faced threats from the U.S. border, Mexico, Matamoros, and daily violence, rape, and other violations of his rights.

Trump also established what is known as last year 42. title, Cited the potential deployment of COVID-19 as a policy to prevent most asylum seekers from entering the country.

While U.S. President Joe Biden exempted children from Title 42 playoffs, he has enforced a policy for single adults and families reaching the border, saying it is necessary to stop the potential spread of coronavirus.

Asylum seekers at Reynosa camp say they face many dangers, including threats of violence [Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]

But Gladis Molina, executive director of the Chicago Youth Center for Immigrant Rights, headlined the 42nd, “It’s not really a health issue, it’s a deterrent to immigration.” Molina, who visited the Reynosa camp in November, said: “It’s a way to keep migrants out.”

It also remains in force despite the general elimination of pandemic restrictions and restrictions Opening the U.S. border to last month’s tourist trips. Molina said the Biden administration has not given a deadline for its intention to end the use of Title 42.

“This policy must be ended,” Molina told Al Jazeera. “It’s our first problem.”

Restart ‘Stay in Mexico’

But despite the removal of Title 42, other Trump-era rules will continue to make it difficult to reach the U.S..

Thursday in Mexico announced He reached an agreement with Washington to reinstate the MPP, which requires asylum seekers to wait months in Mexico to process their cases in the U.S. Although attempts were made to repeal the road rule, a Texas court ordered its reinstatement in August.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the program will be re-launched on Dec. 6, taking it to Mexico at seven border crossings in California, Arizona and Texas once the MPP is fully operational.

This means that problems with severe border conditions are likely to continue.

In Reynosa Square, camp residents say it is difficult to wait because of the threat of disease and organized crime, among other things. other risks.

One man said he had been in captivity with his seven-year-old son for two months. He said he was beaten by hooded men and sent videos of their attacks to the family for a $ 10,000 ransom. He and his son were released after the men received payment, he said.

“We hadn’t seen the sun in two months,” he said. “I really don’t know how much more I can take.”

Threats of violence

The the threat of violence many parents have taken their children off the bridge without help 42. They are not subject to the title when they travel alone. Once in the U.S., they are placed in the custody of U.S. authorities and then expect families to reunite with relatives in the country.

A couple in the Reynosa camp said their 15-year-old son was beaten by members of the cartel when his 17-year-old daughter was threatened with sexual assault. When the men came and one night the girl tried to crawl out of the family store, her parents said they decided to cross the U.S. border to try to find her Georgian grandmother.

“Our high hopes are to be with them again,” said the mother, who is still living outside her tent with her husband and 9-year-old son who was left behind.

Thousands of children have also been sent out of the camp in recent months, according to activists working in Reynosa. Meanwhile, local churches and volunteer organizations provide a majority of the residents. humanitarian needs, including untreated medical conditions.

Lourdes Gonzalez (right) and Suyapa Rosa (center) walk around the Reynosa camp [Dylan Baddour/Al Jazeera]

Lourdes Gonzalez, a longtime advocate of the poor in Reynosa, told Al Jazeera that she walks around the square camp every day looking for the sick. On the last day when he avoided the laundry chains and tangled tarpaulins, people gathered around him to ask questions.

“This happens every time we come. All the sick people are starting to come, ”said Gonzalez, a member of the Angry Aunts and Grandmothers Association, which helps people stranded in the Rio Grande Valley.

Among the tents gathered in a clearing by Gonzales, a pregnant woman said she needed medication; an elderly woman complained that she had no pills to control her blood sugar; a young girl said she had a hernia; and a mother said she raped her young son.

Hope remains

Suyapa Rosa, a 36-year-old doctor, was with Gonzalez during the camp. Rosa once worked at a hospital in San Pedro Sula (Honduras), but escaped under the threat of violence from members of the gang, threatening to kill her if she did not leave.

He crossed the Rio Grande with a large group and was returned by bus by U.S. border agents to Reynosa in September. He spent two weeks in the camp before moving to work and shelter at a nearby clinic and shelter run by the Angry Tias and Grandmothers group.

“It’s a very bad situation here,” he said as he took notes on the medical condition of people in the camp.

But despite the difficulties people face in the Reynosa camp, there are many holding on to hope to find protection for a day in the US.

“I feel devastated, like my life has taken a huge turn,” said a 40-year-old former schoolteacher, who didn’t even name Al Jazeera. He said he crossed the Rio Grande River into the U.S. last month with his 14-year-old daughter, but was returned to Mexico.

“We are waiting for the US to open its doors,” he said. “Miracles happen.”