Migrants return to Venezuela after failing to reach the United States

Dozens of Venezuelans arrived in their country this Wednesday after seeing their plan to migrate to USAwhich imposed a new protocol that allows them to be deported to Mexico if they illegally cross the land border.

Two planes from Panama with some 70 migrants arrived at the Simón Bolívar airport in Maiquetía (La Guaira, north), which serves Caracas, AFP found.

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Another, with about 300, must arrive after midnight from Mexico.

“(I emigrated) to seek a better life, looking for a better future, but he did not lend himself,” Yorvis Carrasquel told AFP after meeting his mother who was waiting for him at the air terminal.

Now “(I’m going to) work and push forward. You fall and you get up,” says this 25-year-old resignedly who, like many of these migrants, crossed the dangerous Darién jungle, which separates Colombia and Panama, with the aim of reaching the United States and asking for asylum.

On October 13, after more than 150,000 Venezuelans arrived in the United States through the land border in a year, Washington imposed a new protocol to curb this wave of migration, which also became a political controversy ahead of the elections. mid-term.

The new regulations provide for the entry of 24,000 Venezuelans through a program that requires entry by air and endorsed by a sponsor. And thanks to an agreement, he will be able to expel to Mexico anyone who enters illegally through the land border.

As Venezuela and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since 2019, they could hardly deport undocumented immigrants from that country.

The new policy took Emmanuel Montero by surprise, who decided to return after seeing his plans frustrated.

“We had already crossed four countries, we were in Honduras,” explains the 21-year-old. “In the jungle we lasted five days, because we went by the shortest route, which is the most expensive.”

“Everything was going super well”, despite the fact that the passage through the Darién “was difficult” because it was raining.

Now he does not have a clear vision about his future. He knows that the economic situation is complex and he used up the last 300 dollars he had left to pay for the ticket that would bring him back.

About twenty Venezuelans returned last week from Guatemala, also with the support of their relatives.

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.