Tens of thousands of migrants have set up impromptu camps along the northern border of Mexico, amidst uncertainty and chaos, in the hope of crossing into the United States on the eve of the end of Title 42.
In Tijuana alone, on the border with California, thousands of migrants from various nationalities, including complete families and children, gather along the border walls days before the culmination of Title 42 on Thursday night, to seek humanitarian asylum in the United States.
The camp has been growing since last weekend with people from Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Haiti, and Honduras, but also from distant countries such as Turkey and Bosnia, as well as Mexicans from the southern states of Michoacán and Guerrero, where organized crime violence displaces them.
A migrant from Colombia, who omitted her name for security reasons, told EFE that she arrived at this camp last Monday with her husband, after flying from her country to Mexico City and then traveling to Tijuana.
Like other migrants, the woman had the idea that she could apply for humanitarian asylum with the end of Title 42.
The migrant shared that it has been difficult due to the cold weather still present in the area, but “the saddest part has been the family separation.”
She explained that on the same Monday night, they separated her from her husband, as United States Border Patrol agents took all single men or those traveling as couples to another area, leaving only women, families, and single mothers in that place.
The woman said she does not know the reasons for the separation.
“They simply took them away, but they are coming back because they don’t have food, they don’t have water, and obviously, one is surrendering, but they should let us stay as family groups,” she commented.
The uncertainty at the border grows before the end of Title 42 next Thursday, a measure adopted by Donald Trump (2017-2021) and continued by President Joe Biden to expel migrants citing the Covid-19 pandemic, an emergency declaration that is about to end in the United States.
The migrant families in the camp between Tijuana and San Diego, California, were registered by Border Patrol agents with identification bracelets, which would be used to process them before May 11, still under Title 42, under a humanitarian exception or “parole.”
“The intention is for us to be processed under Title 42 through a humanitarian ‘parole’ and not under Title 8, which will be very different,” said the Colombian migrant.
She also shared that she previously tried to apply for asylum through the “CBP One” application but was not successful because it often fails.
“There are people who have been trying for a month and have not been able to get an appointment,” she said.
TYT Newsroom
