Around the million-strong city of Ciudad Juarez, migrants have set up tents. Some have been waiting for months, others arrived a few days or weeks ago. Many are waiting for the magical date of May 11. Then the US’s temporary pandemic rules, known as “Title 42”, will cease to apply.
The rules have made it possible for the US to take migrants into custody, and then turn them away without having their asylum grounds examined. Since they were introduced in 2020, three million people have been turned away to Mexico.
– We intend to wait and do everything according to the rules. We have been through too much to try with the bad rules, said a woman from Venezuela who did not want to give her name.
Jose Miguel Hernandez Gonzalez, also from Venezuela, has his plan ready.
– I will wait now, and then try to cross the border illegally. I will surrender to the police and then I hope to stay, he says to SVT.
Can be banned for five years
Starting tonight, all migrants have the right to have their asylum claims re-examined. But those who are denied asylum can, starting today, be banned from the United States for five years. So the stakes are high for many migrants right now – and for those separated from their families there is constant worry.
As for the Yordela Falcon. Heavily pregnant, she left her native Venezuela, which is suffering from hyperinflation and political instability. She left her two other children behind for fear of the journey.
– The journey through the rainforest would have been too tough for them, she says.
In her arms she holds her third son, Jeremy. He was born twelve days earlier – in the custody of the border police. She doesn’t know where Jeremy’s father is, he was taken into custody by the Border Patrol and she hasn’t heard anything since.
– My biggest fear is that he will be deported to Venezuela. I just want a future for us, she says.