Migrants on Mexico border are scared by Trump but refuse to give up on American dream
Record ID:
78477
Migrants on Mexico border are scared by Trump but refuse to give up on American dream
- Title: Migrants on Mexico border are scared by Trump but refuse to give up on American dream
- Date: 17th November 2016
- Summary: TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS, MEXICO (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEXICO-GUATEMALA BORDER IN THE SUCHIATE RIVER, MIGRANTS CROSSING WITH GOODS CROSS ON RAFTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RAFTSMAN WHO TRANSPORTS PEOPLE AND MERCHANDISE IN THE SUCHIATE RIVER, JOSE LUIS SALAZAR, SAYING: "All types of people cross here, from several countries. We see that people do cross but numbers have fallen slightly, not like before. (REPORTER ASKS WHY) Because they have seen, through the media on television that the crossing has become stricter both on Mexican soil and being able to enter the United States." MORE OF RAFTS ON RIVER SUCHIATE EXTERIOR OF SHELTER FOR MIGRANTS NAMED "JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD" VARIOUS OF CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRANTS IN COURTYARD OF THE HOSTEL MIGRANTS WATCHING TV MIGRANTS SITTING ON BENCH (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JORDAN MATUS SANCHEZ, SUPERVISOR OF THE SHELTER "JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD" OF TAPACHULA, SAYING: "That will never end, the more you deny someone they are unable to cross, the more they will want to continue crossing and they will find a thousand ways, they will do it a thousand ways because when you have a goal, you reach it." YOUNG MIGRANT WOMAN, CAROLINA, CARRYING HER BABY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) YOUNG MIGRANT WOMAN, CAROLINA, SAYING: "Because people go to another place to work, to provide for their children and relatives." MIGRANT CHILDREN WATCHING TV MIGRANTS SITTING ON BENCHES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MIGRANT FROM EL SALVADOR, JOSE ALBERTO HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "For example, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, countries in Central America are suffering right now due to violence, insecurity from governments and now with proposals made by President Donald Trump, I think there is no future." MIGRANT FROM HONDURAS, MARIO ALONSO HERNANDEZ, WHO SUFFERED AN ACCIDENT EN ROUTE TO THE UNITED STATES HERNANDEZ'S CRUTCHES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MIGRANT FROM HONDURAS, MARIO ALONSO HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "We go looking for work to better ourselves, because money is scarce in our countries. You earn little and it's not enough to buy anything." VARIOUS OF MIGRANT SHELTER "SCALABRINI" EXTERIOR VARIOUS OF SHELTER INTERIOR / MIGRANTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADOLFO GASTINEL, MIGRANT FROM HONDURAS, SAYING: "Well he (President Barack Obama) promised the undocumented immigrants that he was going to do the immigration reform and he had the chance on two occasions when Obama was president. Otherwise, it does not help at all and right now Trump, well who knows. He promised to put a wall up and the other. But there is a God who is big and he will probably change his mind." MIGRANTS IN THE HOSTEL BELEN (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MIGRANT FROM HONDURAS, DARLIN PALACIOS, SAYING: "The Americans has always felt superior to everyone else and they won't clean a toilet. It is the Latinos who have always fought for the United States and those who have helped the economy of the United States, otherwise it would collapse. There would be no one to do those jobs. The Latinos are the ones who remain in those positions." IRMGARD PUNDT PETERS, WHO RUNS THE BETHLEHEM HOSTEL, WORKING IN HER OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) IRMGARD PUNDT PETERS, COORDINATOR OF THE HOSTEL BELEN, SAYING: "But there are people who already have the idea in their heads and especially if a family member is helping them to get there and cross the border, they are going with the certainty they will get there." EXTERIOR OF THE HOSTEL CASA BELEN
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2016 18:42
- Keywords: Mexico United States Donald Trump border migrants wall
- Location: TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS STATE, MEXICO
- City: TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS STATE, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00158U3PZ7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Central American migrants, on the southern border with Mexico, fear Donald Trump's election victory but refuse to give up on their American dream, others stand down on their plans.
Migrants in Tapachula, Chiapas, in southern Mexico are seen crossing River Suchiate on board rafts, carrying their belongings.
Trump's election upset has sent shockwaves through Mexico and Central America, which rely heavily on U.S. remittances and bilateral trade.
President-elect Trump romped to victory in the Nov. 8 election by winning over voters with vows to end illegal immigration and re-examine trade treaties that he said have led U.S. firms to ship jobs south to lower-wage economies.
Many of the migrants bound for the United States hail from the poor nations of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and there are concerns that Trump's promise to deport millions of immigrants would have grave repercussions in Central American countries with few jobs and shaky security.
This raftsman who transports people and merchandise across River Suchiate, Jose Luis Salazar, said he has seen a decrease of migrants crossing, affected by Trump's win.
"All types of people cross here, from several countries. We see that people do cross but numbers have fallen slightly, not like before. (REPORTER ASKS WHY) Because they have seen, through the media on television that the crossing has become stricter both on Mexican soil and being able to enter the United States," Salazar said.
For most poor Central Americans and Mexicans at travellers' shelters in Tapachula, Trump's threats to build a wall along the whole border and deport millions of illegal immigrants have not made them abandon their harrowing journeys and hopes of a better life in the north.
Jordan Matus Sanchez, supervisor of the shelter "Jesus the Good Shepherd" of Tapachula, said Trump's policies would only make migrants more resolute.
"That will never end, the more you deny someone they are unable to cross, the more they will want to continue crossing and they will find a thousand ways, they will do it a thousand ways because when you have a goal, you reach it," Sanchez said.
Carolina has been staying at the "Jesus the Good Shepherd" shelter for 20 days, where she has received medical and psychological help because she was raped when she arrived in Mexico and became pregnant.
She worries Trump's anti-immigrant campaign proposals will become a reality but added some had no option other than to go north.
"Because people go to another place to work, to provide for their children and relatives," Carolina said.
For Juan Alberto Hernandez, who hails from El Salvador, the prospect of migrating to a hostile nation led by Trump, is not appealing.
"For example, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, countries in Central America are suffering right now due to violence, insecurity from governments and now with proposals made by President Donald Trump, I think there is no future," Hernandez said.
Many had decided to travel to the United States when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was projected to win the election.
Mario Alonso Hernandez, from Honduras, suffered an accident during his migrant travels.
In spite of being on crutches, he said there was nothing back home for him.
"We go looking for work to better ourselves, because money is scarce in our countries. You earn little and it's not enough to buy anything," Hernandez said.
The U.S.-Mexico border is home to the largest per capita wage differential of any land border on the planet, with average U.S. wages about five times higher than Mexican wages.
Further south, in Central America, incomes are even lower, and crime worse, fuelling a surge of migration in recent years. More Central American migrants were apprehended on the U.S. southern border than Mexicans this year.
Republicans maintained their majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress in the momentous election last week. Republicans have also campaigned on an agenda that shunned a comprehensive immigration reform proposed by President Barack Obama.
With this, Adolfo Gastinel, a migrant from Honduras, said their future with Trump looked bleak but he remains hopeful.
"Well he (President Barack Obama) promised the undocumented immigrants that he was going to do the immigration reform and he had the chance on two occasions when Obama was president. Otherwise, it does not help at all and right now Trump, well who knows. He promised to put a wall up and the other. But there is a God who is big and he will probably change his mind," Gastinel said.
A migrant from Honduras, Darlin Palacios, said the United States would continue to rely on help by the Hispanic community to do the jobs, Americans don't want to do.
"The Americans has always felt superior to everyone else and they won't clean a toilet. It is the Latinos who have always fought for the United States and those who have helped the economy of the United States, otherwise it would collapse. There would be no one to do those jobs. The Latinos are the ones who remain in those positions," Palacios said.
Irmgard Pundt Peters, who runs the Hostel Belen, for deportees and migrants, thinks Trump's victory will likely bring more hardship and worries about the challenges that mass deportations would bring, but it would not deter them.
"But there are people who already have the idea in their heads and especially if a family member is helping them to get there and cross the border, they are going with the certainty they will get there," she said.
During fiscal year 2016, which ended in September, the number of people detained along the U.S.-Mexico border surpassed 408,000, a 23 percent jump from last year, although it was less than in 2014, official U.S. data published last month showed. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None