“This is very shocking,” says a Venezuelan woman on her way to the U.S.

El Paso (USA), Jul 27 (EFE).- “Nobody should come here. This is very strong,” Katiuska Figueredo, a Venezuelan woman in her 50s, tells EFE as she places a blanket on the floor of a gymnasium converted into a shelter for migrants on the border between the city of El Paso (USA) and Ciudad Juárez (Mexico).

Figueredo arrived in the U.S. on July 4. She is part of an exodus of more than 7 million Venezuelans who have left their country, which is mired in a deep economic crisis, since 2015, according to the United Nations.

Between 2021 and 2024 alone, the U.S. Border Patrol has reported more than 720,000 encounters at the border with citizens of Venezuela.

Like many of her fellow countrymen who decided to make the long journey to the United States, she and her family – son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren: five years old, one year old and a seven-month-old baby – had to cross the dangerous Darien jungle – between Colombia and Panama – together with a caravan of about 200 people.

Only a few managed to reach their destination, according to his account.

“The biggest scare I had in my life was when the raft we were on capsized and I had to almost throw the baby out so that those on land could save her. Luckily, I know how to swim and I was able to cross to the other side,” she recalls through tears.

Figueredo worked for 22 years in the transport sector in Caracas, but the “poor economic situation and the political crisis” made him decide to leave.

“Venezuela has improved a little after the pandemic, but the salary is still not enough. I earned between 30 and 40 dollars a month, which was enough to buy two PAN flours (used to make the famous Venezuelan arepas), a butter and a cheese,” he says as he settles down among the suitcases also placed on the floor.

The next step is to obtain a work permit and go to Denver (Colorado, Midwest), where a family friend will host them “for a month.” From there, he adds, “they will move forward to have a roof, food and peace.”

The parish priest of the Sacred Heart Church, Rafael García, speaks in an interview with EFE in El Paso (Texas, USA) about the problem of migration in the United States. EFE/ Laura Becquer

El Paso Shelter

But while that happens, her “home” is now a basketball court that she shares with other Venezuelan, Honduran and Guatemalan families. All of them are welcomed in the Sagrado Corazón shelter, a few steps from the church of the same name and under the care of the Cuban priest Rafael García.

“We always saw the flow of people, but in 2022 the change was radical because thousands of migrants came, almost all Venezuelans, and we had to organize ourselves. When the shelters became saturated, we converted the gymnasium of the old school into a shelter so they could spend the night, eat and bathe,” the priest explained to EFE.

The priest stresses that the community’s support was “essential.” “If at the beginning we received 50 people, after 2022 we began to organize and welcome more than a hundred,” he emphasizes. According to official figures, more than 89% of the inhabitants of El Paso are of Latin American descent.

“It has been biblical to see how the people of this region of El Paso have welcomed others and offered their helping hand,” adds García, who also arrived here as an emigrant in 1994 from his native Cuba.

Image of the Sacred Heart shelter in El Paso (Texas, USA), a converted gym for migrants on the border that divides El Paso and Ciudad Juárez (Mexico). EFE/ Laura Becquer

Waiting for asylum

Figueredo and the rest of his family are now waiting for their work permit after obtaining their appointment with the CBP One application, which allows migrants arriving at the border to present themselves at a port of entry to request protection, asylum and access to the United States.

The migration crisis on the southern border of the United States has meant that, despite all the sacrifices made to reach American territory, requesting asylum has also become a problem for people who have left everything behind, like Figueredo.

In June, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the government has “limited capacity” to process migrant cases. Currently, the U.S. only offers 1,450 appointments per day through CBP One for the entire southern border.

Following the entry into force of a series of asylum restrictions for those who cross the border illegally, Washington has assured that the CBP One application is now the only tool available to migrants in transit or already on the Mexican side of the border to request asylum in the country.

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