At the U.S.-Mexico border, desperate migrants have sights set on Canada

Horrifying and exciting videos are played back on cell phones for those sitting nearby. Once seen, it cannot be forgotten.

On screen, a crocodile floats along a river in the jungles of Panama with a half-eaten human leg hanging out of its mouth, a lifeless leg above the giant reptile’s eyes.

This was shared with CBC News by Venezuelan migrant Nelson Ramirez, as he and his wife, Yescee Urbina, waited for guidance on finding food and shelter at a migrant aid office in Juarez, Mexico. The worldly things that remained at his feet – two small knapsacks of scuffed clothes.

Nelson shared the video so the world could understand the level of desperation faced by many migrants fleeing conflicts in Central and South America. Migrants who will risk even crocodile-infested waters to escape their country of origin and find a better life in the north.

“I really felt that at any moment it could happen to me,” said Urbina, as she watched the video again. “We were scared.”

Like many of the migrants currently at the US-Mexico border, their immediate goal is to find their way to the United States. But the couple’s long-term goal, like everyone else who has made it to Juarez, is Canada.

Why Canada? Entry into the US, legal or otherwise, remains highly complicated and word has spread among migrants in Juarez that Canada might be a better landing spot.

If they can get there.

‘Please give me a chance’

Ramirez, who works in sales in Venezuela, and Urbina, who is a criminal lawyer, paid smugglers $5,000 US to transit to Juarez – partly on the roof of a boxcar and partly walking through the jungles of Panama.

The pair also shared photos of the bodies of other migrants who died on the route on the track before heading north, their remains abandoned.

“Some of them are kids,” Ramirez said, sighing.

The two don’t know how far north they will go – but they’re still hopeful. He knew he could not return to Venezuela, fearing for his life for opposing the current Venezuelan government.

“I was physically threatened,” Ramirez told CBC News. “Because I belong to the wrong party.”

“What are we going to tell Canadians?” he added. “We fled our country because we had to. Please give us a chance in Canada.”

Left behind in Venezuela were four children. Ramirez and Urbina said they hope to join them later, once they reach safety.

When asked about her, Urbina broke down in tears as Nelson hugged her.

“I don’t even know what to say,” she said, wiping away tears.

This is the kind of suffering Enrique Valenzuela sees all the time.

He is the executive director of the Migrant Attention Center in Juarez, the only state-run multilevel aid center in Mexico and where Nelson and Yescee went.

He said there are 400 to 500 people here every day.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “Every day we hear different stories, heartbreaking stories of people who have suffered only up to this point.

“Our mission is to work together to help.”

The pandemic is changing the US response

The broader numbers are staggering.

Gang violence, drug cartels and political corruption continue to leave countless people with little choice but to flee their country of origin, even though they know that the journey will be life-threatening and that finally getting anywhere beyond the US-Mexico border is very complicated.

In fiscal 2022, US authorities made 2.4 million arrests at the border – an all-time record.

Most are sent back to Mexico under Title 42, a rarely used part of US law to deport migrants seeking asylum on the grounds that they present a health risk.

Title 42 was implemented by the Trump administration during the pandemic. With the Biden administration planning to end the public health emergency declaration on May 11, 2023, the Title 42 application will expire at the same time, potentially reopening the US to the flow of migrants.

But existing political opposition in the U.S. has led some to push for new measures, which could have the effect of extending Title 42 in practice for a few more months.

And in late February, the Biden administration announced new and separate rules, making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in the US.

All in all, many migrants are now looking at Canada.

‘Canada welcomes’

In the small Pasos de Fe shelter outside central Juarez, one of the city’s countless shelters, there is room for about 50 migrants.

Episcopal pastor Miguel Gonzalez told CBC News that migrants here have really heard all about Canada, with stories coming back from people who have fled Haiti, for example, and have been able to enter Canada.

“The message again is that Canada welcomes people,” he said. “That’s considered good in Canada.”

And in one of the shelter’s crowded sleeping quarters, Yolver Tamariz, a Venezuelan who fled Caracas last summer, is clear about what he wants.

“My goal is Canada,” he said. “I think there are opportunities for Latinos that the U.S. doesn’t offer.

“I don’t want to live in America. And it’s impossible for me to live in Venezuela.”

The desperation to continue moving north from Juarez is shown daily on the border.

Around the clock, migrants were seen trying to outwit authorities on both sides of the border, first fleeing from Mexican police, then illegally jumping across the Rio Grande River into Texas, then attempting to cross the border wall and the US. Border Patrol agents staff the gate.

Dozens of migrants gather at one of the various gates on any given day but are easily dissuaded from advancing, at least where the wall monitors.

On the day CBC News arrived to watch, there were rumors among migrants in Juarez that on the other side of the wall there would be a bus waiting for them to get to Canada for free.

No one knows where the story came from, and it’s definitely not true.

But the desperate desire to believe is clear.

“And! And! Canada!” some shouted.

A few kilometers outside Juarez, in a countryside controlled by Mexican drug cartels, a carefully cut hole – about one square meter – has been sliced ​​into a section of the border wall, the cut part left in the dirt on the Mexican side. along with an empty water bottle.

On the American side, US Border Patrol agents were seen chasing anyone who could get away, as one of the vehicles ran into the Texas scrub.

Help must be provided, the shelter director said

For those who can pass, there is a place in El Paso, Texas, where shelter can be found. One of them, called Annunciation House, has been providing these services for almost five decades.

Migrants seeking a better life in the US and elsewhere are not really a new situation.

Like the shelters on the Juarez side, this place is overcrowded and jammed with bunk beds filled with asylum-seeking migrants — including those carrying crutches and wearing leg splints as they recover from broken bones and other injuries from falling from the top of the border wall. when they climb over it.

The director of Annunciation House Ruben Garcia takes a big view of the bigger challenge of overcoming the despair of all, noting the challenge of mass migration around the world and the political pushback against those who are just trying to escape violence and oppression.

For those who would deny safety and security, he posed some simple questions.

“Again what is our basic attitude towards other human beings?” said Garcia.

He stressed that dealing with migrants in very difficult situations can be a “challenge”, but said that if help is needed, answers must be found.

“We have to ask ourselves,” he said. “How do humans care for other humans?”

As dusk approaches Juarez and the rest of the night cools down, more foreigners gather on street corners, hoping for a hot meal.

Among them is Johanna Jiminez, another migrant from Venezuela who fled the country with her family last September. Now they live in the streets of this city, unable to go north.

They are not headed for America either.

“Canada was always our destination. But we’re stuck here.”

“Our dream,” he said, “is Canada.”