Migrants who entered the U.S. illegally under moonlit skies and waist-cold water on Friday were devastated to learn they could be sent back to Mexico under expanded asylum-seeking restrictions.
About 200 migrants walked in the dark for about an hour to surrender to Border Patrol agents in Yuma, Arizona, including many Cubans – who were surprised to hear that the asylum ban that previously applied mostly to citizens of other countries now also applies to citizens of other countries. another country. those people. Some dissidents from the Cuban government were driven to leave by fear of imprisonment and persecution and a new sense of economic desperation.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans will be deported to Mexico if they enter the U.S. illegally, effective immediately. At the same time, they are offering humanitarian parole to up to 30,000 people a month from the four countries if they apply online, pay for their plane tickets and find financial sponsorship.
Mario Enrique Perez, 32, said he would rather go to jail in the U.S. than return to Mexico, where he and his wife endured pain and poor treatment during a two-month trip across the country. He often had to get off the bus to avoid shock at the government checkpoint, slowly.
Most Cubans reach the U.S. by flying to Nicaragua as tourists and crossing the U.S. border with Mexico. Perez said they traded information “like ants” about the safest and easiest routes, so they chose Yuma.
Nelliy Jimenez, 50, said she rode a horse during a three-month trip through Mexico to avoid being hassled at government checkpoints. His son, described as an active dissident, fled to Spain last year. He remained in Cuba despite the relationship with his son – even imprisoned during the July 2021 protests – but remained until economic desperation forced him to sell his shop in the city of Cienfuegos to finance his trip to the United States.
He hopes to live with relatives in Nebraska.
“I didn’t see this coming,” Jimenez said of the new restrictions on asylum.
Niurka Avila, 53, said the Cuban government is monitoring her and her husband, a known dissident. She spoke in disgust to Cuban officials, saying that she could not wear the traditional guayabera because she did. They “fit”, he said.
Avila, a nurse in Cuba, said Mexico was not an attractive option and that she and her husband hoped to join family in Florida.
“(Mexico) is a violent place, and our family is here,” he said.
The new rules expand existing efforts to stop Venezuelans trying to enter the US, which began in October and led to a dramatic drop in Venezuelans arriving at the southern border. Together, they outline major changes to immigration rules that will remain in place even if the Supreme Court ends a Trump-era public health law that allows US authorities to turn away asylum seekers.
“Don’t, don’t just show up at the border,” Biden said when announcing the change, though he acknowledged the difficulties many families face in making the perilous journey north.
“Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” he advises.
Biden made the announcement just days before he plans to visit El Paso, Texas, on Sunday for his first trip to the southern border as president. From there, he will travel to Mexico City to meet with North American leaders on Monday and Tuesday.
On the US-Mexico border, migrants have been denied the opportunity to seek asylum 2.5 million times since March 2020 under Title 42 restrictions, which were introduced as an emergency health measure by former President Donald Trump to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But there has always been criticism that the ban is being used as a pretext by Republicans to close the border.
Biden moved to end the Title 42 restrictions, and Republicans demanded they stay. The US Supreme Court has upheld that rule today. White House officials have said they still believe the ban should be ended, but they remain able to turn away migrants under immigration law.
On Friday, Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, welcomed the expansion of safe and regular routes that will now be available to “unprecedented numbers” of people trying to enter the United States, but said the agency also wanted more details. apart. about how the new process will be implemented.
“This is quite an important and diverse announcement,” he told reporters in Geneva at a regular UN briefing. “We are analyzing what has been announced and especially the impact it can have – including the situation and the thousands of people who have moved forward.”
Cheshirkov reiterated the UN body’s concern about the use of Title 42 because of the risk that many people could be sent back to Mexico “without considering the dangers they are fleeing and the risks and hardships many people will face.”
“What we are repeating is that this is not in line with refugee law standards,” he said. “Seeking asylum is a human right.”
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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Colleen Long, Zeke Miller and Rebecca Santana in Washington; and Gisela Salomon in Miami.
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