By Gabe Gutierrez -
NBC News
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — Long ravaged by drug cartel violence, Ciudad Juárez has sprung up a makeshift camp right next to the migrant detention center where 40 people died in a fire in late March. and which has triggered an extensive investigation of Mexico's migration system.
Now boarded up, this building is a haunting reminder of how dangerous this humanitarian crisis is.
Children play in the street next to the stench of portable toilets.
A girl cleans clothes in a bucket of water.
This is how the despair of migrants to cross while the Border Patrol watches them looks up close
May 4, 202302:08
A week before the United States government ends the COVID-19-era border restriction known as Title 42, an increasing number of migrants are waiting in limbo, becoming an increasingly important challenge for the Administration of the president, Joe Biden, in his attempt to stop the massive arrival of migrants.
A Guatemalan man who gave only his first name, Adair, said the hardest part of waiting in Juárez is trying to survive without a place to go to the bathroom or shower.
On his way north, he was nearly mugged trying to cross Mexico, he explained, and is now considering the possibility of crossing into the United States with his wife and their 2-year-old son before next week.
It is impossible to know how many migrants in Juárez understand the implications of lifting Title 42. Some of those who spoke to NBC News, including Adair, said they had vaguely heard of the measure, but that it does not influence their decision to cross the border.
[New York receives new buses with migrants from Texas. The city warns of a collapse]
Adair, whose journey from Guatemala took more than three and a half months, explained why he wants to cross the US border.
“Because I have faith in God that he is going to help me,” he said in Spanish.
“And he knows that I am going for an opportunity, for the good, not for the bad.
I will not cause harm.
Go to work.
To give my children a better future ahead,” he recounted.
Pro-immigrant activists say that people making the perilous journey to the United States often receive misinformation through social media, from friends in their home countries, or even from human smugglers who exploit them by giving them false hope. that they will be granted immediate asylum in the United States.
The mayor of neighboring El Paso, Texas, said Thursday that he expects some 15,000 migrants (between 10,000 and 12,000 already encamped and another 3,000 from a caravan on the way) to cross the border from Juárez in the days after the end of the Title 42.
Five coyotes were convicted of holding nearly 100 people in Texas
May 4, 202300:28
A few weeks ago, the governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua had said that in Juárez there were up to 35,000 migrants waiting to enter the United States, a figure that was disputed by the city's mayor.
“There is no question that the immigration system is broken,” Leeser said.
El Paso authorities plan to use vacant schools to temporarily house immigrant families starting next week.
"We wait for an opportunity"
A van loaded with supplies pulled up next to the tents and dozens of migrants rushed to queue for a bottle of juice or water.
Juan Ángel Guerrero, a 52-year-old Venezuelan, was frustrated by the lack of international aid.
"We - the immigrant community - live in anarchy," he said.
“And we are waiting for your government, Mr. Biden, to give us a chance,” he added.
[The soldiers that the Government will send to the border will not carry out immigration control functions]
Alicia Vázquez, one of the Juárez volunteers who brought supplies to the camp, said she just wanted to help.
“It's heartbreaking to see all these people.
We wish we could do more for them," she stated.
Betty Camargo, who assists immigrants in Juárez and El Paso as part of the Human Rights Border Network, said the Biden administration's decision to deploy 1,500 active duty soldiers to help with administrative tasks on the southern border is disappointing and send the wrong message.
“Why not send 1,500 lawyers?
That is the need here, ”she stressed.
“Why not send in 1,500 social workers?” she wondered.
As the border collapses, the US and Mexico reach an agreement... and then AMLO criticizes Biden
May 3, 202301:56
Biden also announced the opening of processing centers in Central and South America to start processing (or deny it) long before migrants can reach the US-Mexico border.
On the other hand, the United States agreed with the Mexican government on new measures to accept more migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua expelled from the border.