The Other Side of Emigrating to the United States

Translated from Spanish. View the original post here

#journalism

Newspaper article.
Topic: Emigration of Venezuelans.
Author: Darimel Urdaneta (MeredithSkywalker)

The other side of immigrating to the United States

There are many reasons why a Venezuelan decides to emigrate, but they all conclude that in Venezuela there is no future or quality of life, that is why many decide to leave to different parts of Latin America, but in recent months there has been a boom of migrating to the land of opportunities such as the United States of America.
Learn the story of Irma, an 80-year-old lady who, with the help of another Venezuelan, managed to cross the river de grande from Mexico to the United States.


Irma is a native of Maracaibo Venezuela, and at 80 years old she managed to cross the border with the United States. Irma had fainted while trying to cross the river and another Venezuelan helped her cross and arrived safely to the mainland.

The humanitarian crisis that Venezuela is going through has forced Venezuelans to escape from the need that is currently experiencing in Venezuela. Some states in the country suffer from electrical fluctuations, such as total loss of electricity by hours or even days. There are no medicines, medical care is precarious. No public transport, no food on the shelves and where a Venezuelan can get food is at very high prices, since the minimum wage is $3 per month, and for a family of 4 people you need $350 for the basic food basket for one month. And besides all this is insecurity, there are guerrillas, criminal gangs and the most feared is the police themselves who harms Venezuelans, many Venezuelans have been persecuted politicians and that is why they flee Venezuela.

At the OAS, David Smolansky warned that estimates the number of Venezuelans abroad will reach 7 million and recalled that the Venezuelan is leaving the country due to the crisis and the world “must welcome us”.

According to France 24, Venezuelan citizens pay up to 12,000 dollars to coyotes to cross from Mexico to the US illegally. However, they highlight that the arrival of undocumented immigrants on US soil has broken records, and according to the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), in April they had recorded the highest figures in the last 20 years: more than 178,000 people arrived irregularly, in many cases putting their lives at risk.

Just as there are stories with happy endings like that of Mrs. Irma, there are heartbreaking stories, as is the case of Ana N (her name is protected) a Venezuelan woman who crossed with her two children and her husband, they had paid a coyote to cross them along the river and the current was high by that date. In view of the fact that Ana's youngest son was crying, a crying coyote decided to throw the baby into the river, the people who witnessed this atrocious act could not do anything, as a coyote is part of Mexican cartels, however the father of the creature threw himself into the river to try to save his son but his effort was in vain since the baby had died.

The question of emigrating is not only crossing the river, because when you cross into cells inside the United States shelter, you can spend days there without being able to communicate with your relatives, how can you also not bathe until a week passes. That's what Juan N told us (his name is protected), he told us about his journey from Maracaibo to the United States.

“One morning they went to pick me up in Monterrey, the driver who was going to take me to Ciudad Acuña, passed with a caravan like 10 cars. From Monterrey to Ciudad Acuña they were about 6 hours. Among the drivers were communicating about the alcabala, and there are police officers who behaved hateful and the drivers were paying them.
On a mandatory basis we all had to have a role where we were sealed in migration with permission to be in Mexico for 180 days.
We arrived at Ciudad Acuña at about 6 in the afternoon, they left us in a house that had a large patio, and there they all agreed to order food while we were waiting there. The one who went to buy the food arrived at about 10 o'clock in the evening with pizza and other food there, so everyone ate and we waited for instructions.
At 2 in the morning they woke us all up because it was time to cross to the United States. Everything looked like a movie, we went jogging and we got to a mountain, we had to cross 3 barbed fences, and it was a shame with the children, the older people, struggling with those wires to be able to cross, but among all of us we helped. Then we approached the river and that river reached me through my chest, I measure 1.78. the current was tight, but we all managed to cross. Then when we crossed we had to climb a steep one and there was mud and people were slipping but we still crossed it.
After crossing we had to change our clothes for dry clothes, because if it was wet they wouldn't let you through. Then the patrol arrived and they gave us good morning and then they asked us why we passed so early, and they recommended that it was best to happen after 6 in the morning which is when the river is low, but they also welcomed us to the United States.
We were 49 people, and he called more patrols because in one of us we didn't all get in.
Then they took us to the river yield and checked everything, and if you got something wet they'd dumped it at you. In the review they tell how much money you arrive in cash, keep it in an envelope along with your passport and phone.
From there you wait for processing, taking pictures and fingerprints. And you have to wait, a lot of people moved her to other places and no idea where they were taking them. And those who process there they open a file and they must wait for a transfer and tell you that you are on the list for the transfer.
I spent 8 days in that stay, there are people who only had 3 days there as were people who had a month. The hardest thing is the wait, because you sleep on the floor, on a foami that is on the floor, your pillow was your shoes, at breakfast you ate a burrito, at lunch rice with beans, meat and at dinner you eat another burrito. You don't have a watch, you have to ask the officers about the time, the men were outdoors along with 100 mates or even more, and the women if they were inside but were less in group, they were like 20 or 30 women.
Women are the same, they don't see the light of day either, only they lasted less time in the shelter. They only had officers sitting in their offices working in front of them. In my experience I could only bathe twice. They told me soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, new socks and new underwear in the two bathrooms I had.
Being there is quite difficult because of the uncertainty but it's worth it, as the lifestyle you live in the United States is not achieved in another country, besides security.”

That was the experience of one of the interviewees and from what you can see it is crude, but it is the reality that many Venezuelans and other immigrants of other nationalities come to live while on the journey and in the shelter.

However, Venezuelans who arrive in the United States illegally seeking asylum, in addition to risking their lives, are exposed to being deported again to Venezuela, due to the condition in which they arrive, while others must hire lawyers while waiting in detention centers.

Sources:

NoticieroDigital.com
Elpitazo.com
Laprensadelara.com


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