Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants are returned from the US to Mexico after a new migration plan

Some 300 Venezuelans have been returned to the Mexican Juarez City (north) from USA after an agreement between the two countries that seeks to order migration came into force on Wednesday, unleashing a wave of confusion and sadness.

A first group of a hundred was taken to Mexican territory on Wednesday afternoon after waiting several hours at the border, while this Thursday there are about 200 more, explained migrants and activists.

Look: The United States will return to Mexico Venezuelan migrants who cross the border illegally

Venezuelans received with a gesture of sadness the news of the new conditions to enter the United States, where many of them have relatives.

“Help us, please! I feel sad because we come from so far away, I have welts on my feet. I have my baby sick”Venezuelan Pedro Leyva told AFP.

Many have run out of money and migrant shelters in Ciudad Juárez are at capacity.

“We walk down the street, nobody wants to help us (…) to see what option they give us. We need an answer to this as soon as possible”said Elionaxi Castillo, 28.

The priest Francisco Calvillo, director of the Casa del Migrante de Ciudad Juárez, regrets that governments decide “on the desk, from above” these agreements without knowing the reality and “chaos” that unleash.

“It would be interesting (for the rulers) to know what is below, they take away their clothes, their papers, they leave them more vulnerable”lamented the religious.

On Wednesday, the United States announced that it had reached an agreement with the Mexican government in an attempt to order the transit of undocumented immigrants on the extensive common border.

Washington will allow the entry of 24,000 Venezuelans who arrive by air while Mexico, for humanitarian reasons, will receive those who cross illegally from its territory.

Excluded from this benefit will be those who have been expelled from the United States in the last five years and those who enter Mexico or Panama irregularly after the announcement of the program.

The Mexican government began requesting visas from Venezuelans as of last January, which pushed thousands to try to cross the country clandestinely or in caravans seeking to reach the United States.

Between October 2021 and August 2022, more than 150,000 Venezuelan migrants were detained at the border with Mexico, according to data from the US Customs and Border Protection Office.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.