- Title: American dream dashed for migrant families deported back to Mexico
- Date: 6th April 2021
- Summary: CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO (APRIL 5, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DEPORTEES WALKING TOWARDS MEXICAN SIDE AT BORDER CROSSING DEPORTEES BEING REVISED BY IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS VARIOUS OF DEPORTEES AT IMMIGRATION FACILITY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MIGRANT ACTIVIST, MARISA LIMON, SAYING: "The United States Government should put an end to Title 42 (on deportations) because we are seeing that there is a lot of damage being done to the people who are impacted. We also need more space like shelters here in Ciudad Juarez, for the prevention of COVID because the situation with the pandemic is still very difficult. And to have so many people in these places will be very serious. So these are the most important issues." MIGRANTS ARRIVING AT NEW SHELTER MIGRANTS IN LINE AT NEW SHELTER VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS AT SHELTER BUNK BEADS IN SHELTER SIGN AT SHELTER VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS AT SHELTER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEPORTED GUATEMALAN MIGRANT, JULIA (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "I had hoped to see my daughter who is there (in the U.S.). I thought of going with my husband and my daughter who are there. Unfortunately, it didn't happen like I had hoped. But thanks to God I am well, I am alive. I have come back again (to Mexico), and now I will return to my town (in Guatemala)." JULIA WITH HER CHILD NEARBY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEPORTED GUATEMALAN MIGRANT, JULIA (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "I feel separated from my daughter (in the U.S.). I wanted to be with her, my daughter was happy, I was happy that I was to arrive. And when she heard the news (of my deportation), she became sad, now she's sad and I am too." DEPORTED GUATEMALAN MIGRANT, ANA MARIA MORENO, WITH HER DAUGHTER AT SHELTER SHOES ON FLOOR DEPORTED GUATEMALAN MIGRANT, ANA MARIA MORENO, WITH HER DAUGHTER AT SHELTER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DEPORTED GUATEMALAN MIGRANT, ANA MARIA MORENO, SAYING: "Our clothes, shoes, everything has been taken away. We were given this (clothes currently being worn). If they were to help us then why take away our things. I had medicine for my daughter and it was taken away. How am I to feel now given that my daughter is unwell and I can't give her medicine if it's been taken away from me. It's disappointing because I had hoped they (immigration authorities) would listen to me. We all have a right to speak, it's a right that should not be taken away from anyone. No one was given the right to explain (their case)." VARIOUS OF DEPORTEES WALKING TO MEXICO AT BORDER CROSSING AREA
- Embargoed: 20th April 2021 14:57
- Keywords: Central America Ciudad Juarez Mexico U.S.A. deportations deportees immigration migrants shelter
- Location: CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO
- City: CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,South America / Central America,Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001E7DUM2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The hopes of a group of migrants for a better life in the north were dashed on the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday (April 5) as young families were deported from the United States.
Many had hoped President Joe Biden's approach to immigration would allow for these parents and their young children to stay in the U.S. until their immigration cases could be heard. Instead, they have found themselves back in Mexico, in limbo, and with many unable to afford a trip back home to Central America.
Julia crossed the northern Mexican border to the U.S. with her young child. She wanted to be reunited with her husband and oldest daughter who, she says, are in the United States. Originally buoyed by reports that families with children were allowed to stay north of the border under Biden, she now finds herself in a 400-bed migrant shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Speaking to Reuters, Julia said she had all but given up hope of seeing her daughter and husband in the United States. She is looking to return to her impoverished town in Guatemala, but unsure of how to return home with little money and now stranded in northern Mexico with her younger child.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues to enforce a Trump-era policy of returning most southern border crossers to Mexico. About 70,000 people, or 72% of such migrants - mostly single adults - were rapidly deported in February alone, according to CBP data.
Ana Maria Moreno and her young daughter were also deported back to Mexico, with just the clothes on their back. She told Reuters that her personal belongings, including her daughter's medicine, were taken away by immigration officials. Far from home and unable to plead her case to U.S. immigration officials, this shelter bunk bed will be her home for the near future.
The number of immigrant families apprehended by U.S. agents along the southern border nearly tripled in February from a month earlier to about 19,000 people.
Hunger and poverty are spurring their flight. So is disinformation that has rocketed across social media and by word of mouth that the U.S. border is now wide open.
(Production: Jose Luis Gonzalez, Rodolfo Pena Roja, Paul Vieira) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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