Kirley arrived in Matamoros, Mexico with her injuries sustained when she jumped off a freight train used by migrants to reach the border with the United States. Like thousands of other people, she is waiting for an opportunity to take the last step separating her from her American dream.
For two weeks, this 19-year-old Venezuelan and her boyfriend Jenderson have been sleeping on the streets of Matamoros, hanging from “Title 42”, a standard that allows authorities in the United States to block the entry of migrants for reasons of protocol. anti-COVID-19.
This device was originally due to end on May 23, but a Louisiana judge had blocked its lifting. On November 15, a federal judge in Washington on the contrary demanded that President Joe Biden put an end to the expulsions provided for by this device, and the lifting of “Title 42” was scheduled for Monday before midnight.
But following an appeal filed by twenty conservative American states, the Supreme Court decided on Monday to maintain this device.
The wait for the young couple, like other thousands of Venezuelans who arrived in this town in the state of Tamaulipas, is marked by the lack of information and the fear of failure in their attempt to escape the shortages they were experiencing. in their country.
Negative temperatures
“Title 42” prevents them from seeking asylum at the gates of the United States and allows the deportation of undocumented migrants. But even if that device had been lifted, there was no guarantee that Kirley and Jenderson would receive the protection of the US government, the goal for which they risked their lives on their four-month journey.
In Matamoros, migration lawyers are handling some 5,000 applications, mostly from Venezuelans and Haitians, who endure sub-zero temperatures.
In the nearby town of Reynosa, several thousand migrants live in overcrowded shelters.
“We entered Torreon, and passing from Torreon to Monterrey on “the Beast” [le train de marchandises]we had to throw ourselves off the roof towards the mountain because armed people came up and took away lots of people,” Kirley told AFP near the international bridge that leads to the American city of Brownsville, Texas.
She remembers that among those arrested were children and that the arrest led to the amputation of an arm for one of them.
She herself, throwing herself from the roof, cut her head. With a bloody head, she was then helped by a man who took her to the Red Cross. This injury, “it’s something that made me regret coming”.
The uncertainty is also palpable in Ciudad Juarez, where thousands of migrants of various nationalities meet. “I did not come [aux autorités] because there are some who went to Juárez and who were sent back “to their country, confides in this border town Almao, a 23-year-old Venezuelan.
Disinformation
Migrants must also fight against misinformation. A week ago, on their mobile phones, a rumor said that the border would be opened by the authorities for a few hours. Consequence: they left their refuges and their places were then quickly taken by others.
“We found ourselves without a place to sleep,” says Almao.
From the introduction of “Title 42” in March 2020 until the end of September, migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean have been denied asylum 2.3 million times at the southern border of the United States, according to the US official data.
Some 600 migrants sleep on the streets of Matamoros in small campaign tents, or covered in plastic.
Faced with the lack of shelter, the local authorities have adapted a leisure center for 200 people, currently occupied by 700 people, says Alejandro Cerezo, mayor of the city.
Other migrants occupy abandoned houses. “It is a situation that drives us to despair, especially among residents,” notes the city councilor.
The Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, was content to say last Friday, during a visit to Washington, that the government was preparing for the end of “Title 42”.