Blocked by U.S., Asylum Seekers Turn to Spain, Costa Rica

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It was a friendship born of need inside a cold government shelter in Juarez.

President Trump had just taken office and shut down all avenues to asylum last January.

Newly arrived migrants found themselves staring at soldiers on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. Asylum-seekers checking the status of their online appointment instead saw messages inviting them to return home.

While many of their peers have done just that in the past seven months, Yamilet, a Salvadoran woman, and Grisel Mendez, a Venezuelan mother of three, remain in Juarez hanging on to hope the U.S. will eventually reopen its doors to those fleeing poverty, political oppression and crime in their countries.

“We couldn’t go to our appointment because they went away with it,” Mendez said. “We were coming to work; we know agriculture. We were not going to be a burden.”

Short on cash and apparently out of options, Mendez and Yamilet met inside the Leona Vicario federal shelter in Juarez and refused to move their children back to unsafe, gang-infested neighborhoods back home.

They sold candy and trinkets on Juarez streets while their partners sought odd jobs for sustenance in Juarez. The two families moved into a tiny apartment with no electricity. A single lamp with rechargeable batteries guides them at night.

The women have placed their children in Juarez elementary schools. They put away their wares at noon and at 2 p.m. to pick up their kids and walk them home before returning to work. Along the way, they often stop at a communal kitchen near the Juarez Monument Park for a meal.

Yamilet says it is a temporary arrangement because she hasn’t given up on the American dream.

“All this president (Trump) is doing is clearing out the undocumented and the criminals – those who entered to destroy the country. We came here to work. Once he cleans the house, he might give us the opportunity to enter into the United States, cleanly, with a permit,” Yamilet says.

Juarez migrant shelter operators such as the Rev. Juan Fierro of Good Samaritan say few migrants remain in the city seven months after Trump took office.

“The people that were with us were waiting to see if there would be a change in (U.S.) immigration policy, if there would be an opportunity to enter the United States,” he said. “They got tired and started leaving. Some traveled to Mexico City, some to Costa Rica, others are leaving for Spain. Either way, they no longer are on the border.”