All we want is a safe haven for our baby to grow up in
Plea as family waits for chance to make gruelling trek to Trump’s U.S
humanitarian visas under a new scheme by the Mexican government.
Officials are processing 12,000 more, including 2,500 minors, who have applied for the document provided under the new government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
But Mexico’s welcome is also resulting in even more migrants heading to the US border, which has already begun to increase tensions with the Trump government.
Walking through the holding point in Ciudad Hidalgo, among makeshift tents and sun-scorched beds, the migrants speak with many different accents from countries throughout Central and South America.
Joblessness in parts of Honduras, a mounting political crisis in Nicaragua and lack of hope in Guatemala, where there are no opportunities, are mainly cited by those the Mirror spoke to.
Many are deportees. Hundreds of the migrants had previously lived in the States, for years or decades.
They now hope to join a caravan to reunite with their families, resume old jobs or simply be free from the persecution they received on their return to their native countries.
One deportee heading for Tijuana is Boris Guaro, 38, who grew up just over the border in California before he was booted out.
He is waiting for his humanitarian visa to be approved and hopes to set off on foot in the next few days.
He said: “The easiest thing is to cross the border illegally, walk across the river as hundreds have, but to have a visa from Mexico makes it safer. We know now once we have it, we will not be rounded up and taken back.”
He said migrants here were not deterred by Trump’s wall but admitted it has led people to attempt to make it to the border quicker.
Boris explained: “The wall doesn’t put us off, it’s more about what will Trump do next.
“He could set quotas on each nationality, which is driving the caravans forward much quicker. People want to be in the queue first.
“If someone wants to cross into the States, whether there is a wall or not, they’ll find a way legally or illegally.
“If I can, I want to fulfil my dream and get back to the United States.”
Boris was travelling by himself, but Madelyn Sanchez is like hundreds of mothers who have uprooted their entire families, praying for a chance. The 27-year-old said she left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with her three children four weeks ago before reaching Ciudad Hidalgo.
She carried her youngest, a sixmonth-old baby boy, on her back and is travelling with a cousin, her husband and their four children.
“There are times when I’ve almost thought I couldn’t go on, but I have to for my family,” she says.
“I have no idea what the future holds, but I hope when we get to America, my children are not taken.
DAY 2: JOIN US TOMORROW AT BORDER CITY BROWNSVILLE We have heard so many stories about children being taken from parents.”
Many of migrants here are deeply religious and believe a miracle will be provided by God. Nery Suarez, 19, from Guatemala, said: “It is like some expect to see a Moses-like figure when they get to the American border who will give them safe passage. “Even God cannot overcome Trump on this. It won’t happen, but life in Mexico is better than where we lived.”