2023-05-15 05:01:20
A bad smell emerges at the limits of Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States. Here, the Rio Bravo is only a thin river. What flows in his bed is an opaque green that evokes a toxic soup where plastic waste floats.
This strange waterway delimits Mexico and the United States. It is crossed by jumping from one stone to another. Three or four leaps north. To the dream land.
However, this facility is only an illusion. Barbed wire stands right in front, all shiny and warmed by the Texas desert sun. A hundred meters further, a huge wall of rusty brown metal blocks the passage, thus the American dream.
The illusions of migrants
This route, thousands of people have taken it in the last few days. In front of this wall which slows down their momentum, they waited patiently under a powerful sun, enduring the cold nights without protection. Drinking in their dreams, warming up in their hopes.
This is madness!
says Rafael, his face dripping with sweat. He returns from the only convenience store within walking distance with water and snacks for his wife and three children. We have nothing, it’s hard
, he admits. Nothing, except this desire to go to the other side of the wall.
Rafael says he has been waiting for eight days on this piece of desert that has become a waiting room. He waits for a door to open in this wall. Let the border agents give him the opportunity to claim his dream share.
The Venezuelan shows his worn plastic sandals with holes. The proof of an incalculable number of kilometers covered on foot. He heads back to the closed door in the metal wall, convinced that his willingness to work hard will be enough to get him invited to stay in the United States.
In recent days, thousands of migrants with similar backgrounds have been deported to Mexico, flown back to their country of origin. The lack of gainful employment and the pervasiveness of corruption and violence are not always valid grounds for obtaining asylum elsewhere.
Especially in these tough economic times for many Americans. Especially in a polarized country, where immigration is an explosive issue, winning or losing elections.
I don’t know what I’m gonna do
sighs Ericson, another Venezuelan who has just been deported to Mexico.
« I’ve been on the road for eight months… I lost everything. All my money. Even my phone! »
Many migrants admitted to the United States also seem to be disillusioned. It was clearly visible on some sidewalks in El Paso last week. Migrants camped there, exhausted, as if they were lost.
They are, however, on the American side of the border. But they have no more money to continue on their way, to finally put down what they have left of their luggage. Hard to believe that they imagined their arrival in the United States in this way.
American illusions
Many Americans also view the border through a distorting prism. A vision influenced by their fears and their ambitions. By ideology and genealogy.
For some there is a crisis; the border would be opened
to anyone. Another delusion. First, the border is extremely guarded, with many material obstacles. Those who jump the wall
are very likely to be apprehended quickly.
Moreover, not everyone who claims asylum will receive it. Over the past two years, almost half of asylum seekers have been deported quickly, without a hearing. And those who have an audience are not automatically accepted.
L’invasion
often mentioned by the American right, has rather the air of a mirage… even if it is true that hundreds of thousands of people wish to enter this country and that the number of people admitted causes temporary overflows in the aid centers .
A Latin American migrant on the border between Mexico and the United States.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Yanik Dumont Baron
And if the wave of migrants did not hit the border with the force feared by some, it is largely thanks to the role of Mexican law enforcement. It is also to Mexico that tens of thousands of people ineligible for American protection are deported.
It is also there that a prodigious number of other migrants are presently stranded, unable to go further north. Mexican police and military carry out this work in the name of American security interests… and also Canadian, since the neighbors to the north are bound by the Agreement on Safe Third Countries.
Washington hopes that these disappointed Venezuelans and Haitians will settle in Mexico and put aside their New York or California dream. An illusion, according to the testimonies of migrants collected in Ciudad Juarez.
Mexican work permits are theoretically accessible to many migrants. However, in practice, many refer to discrimination and describe a cumbersome process with difficult requirements to meet.
Seeking asylum in Mexico is also possible, but the process is very long and very random, according to human rights groups, who believe that Mexico is far from being a safe country
for those people seeking protection.
Anyway, many migrants do not seem to want to start a new life in Mexico. I didn’t come all this way to stay here
says a Colombian sipping a coffee a few hundred meters from the United States.
Some migrants carry a Bible in their luggage.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Yanik Dumont Baron
The deterrent illusion
Washington also believes that its messages denouncing the greed of the smugglers and the dangers of this long road to the border are dissuasive. But can they convince those fleeing countries where electricity is lacking? Where armed gangs have the upper hand over the police?
Those who accept the risks of hitting the road often know someone who lives in the United States. The daily life of these people, even if it can be painful, is often more enticing than that of the country they leave behind.
To deter migrants, Washington relies on strict rules and severe penalties for those who circumvent legal channels. These are powerful tools, the legality of which is already being challenged in court by a civil liberties group. And these tools could disappear.
The White House also claims to look at the migration issue from a continental angle, hence the idea of opening, we do not yet know when, centers in Colombia and Guatemala where migrants can have their case assessed before taking the road to the north.
Washington also promises to tackle the roots of the problems that encourage people to flee their country. Curbing corruption and criminal violence takes time. As well as the desire to surpass the interests of many actors… and to go beyond illusions.
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