By: EFE
By: EFE
EL PASO, Texas – After ending a long wait that for some lasted up to two years living in shelters in Mexico, 25 Asylum seekers under the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) entered the United States through the Santa Fe International Crossing, in El Paso, border city of the state of Texas.
They are mostly adults, but also around 10 children crossed the bridge one by one accompanied by personnel from the Migration Institute of Mexico and representatives of the United Nations (UN), who in turn handed them over to the custodians of the United States Immigration and Customs Service, and after being processed quickly, lead them towards two trucks that were waiting for them on the US side, where they will wait for the immigration authorities to decide on their asylum requests.
Under the organization of the UN agencies for refugees (UNHCR) and migration (IOM), and the United Nations Children’s Fund ( Unicef) the UN provided support to the US government in Mexican territory in terms of logistics, transfers, document ordering and covid tests – 19 necessary for the applicants to enter the United States.
“There are no words, the joy of the day, start with them in the morning and see them right now as they have crossed It is a great honor ”, commented Melissa López , executive director of Diocesan Services for Migrants and Refugees, who was part of the organizers of the transfer.
The vulnerability in their countries of origin such as Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela, among others, caused the migration, until this moment arrived historic when they were finally able to cross from C Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua (Mexico) to a shelter on the US side that is administered by Casa Anunciación, an organization that offers hospitality to immigrants and refugees from 1978, in West Texas.
Of the around 69, 000 asylum seekers who entered the program where they promised to stay in Mexico to later seek entry to the United States s or only a few would have stayed 25, 000 people on the Mexican side of the border and the others would have returned to their countries of origin, mainly out of desperation that caused the pause of procedures and the closure of government offices due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And it is they who in small groups have begun to enter the country, first by the border between Tijuana and San Ysidro, then through Matamoros and Brownsville, to fi nally give way to the income through Juárez and El Paso.
“These people were not in any detention; these people have already been processed more than once ”, pointed out Linda Rivas, from Las Américas Migrant Support Center.
According to the IOM, crossings of migrant refugees under the MPP will continue in the El Paso area on next Monday, March 1 and gradually the number of refugees received by the United States will increase every day.
‘ ‘We know that the groups start from 25 people, we know that they are going to increase and we are ready for that. Let’s hope it will be soon because people can no longer wait in these very difficult conditions and with a lot of suffering, ” added Rivas.
The associations involved in this start of reception to immigrants who remained in Mexico while the requirements of the US authorities were met, celebrated the event and named it 26 February 2021 as a historic day for the country and West Texas region.
“Little by little we are restoring asylum in the United States,” said Rivas moved, who highlighted the dignity with which the migrants were received with a quick process and thus be able to move to the shelter where they will be treated with the greatest possible comforts before embarking on a new trip to the towns where their relatives wait for them.