Elections in the US: Immigrants, pawns of the mid-term electoral contest

First modification: 07/11/2022 – 10:27

By RFI Special Envoy to San Antonio, Texas

Illegal immigration is one of the main campaign issues in the United States. Immigration authorities have recorded a significant increase in attempts to cross the southern border in the last year. As of September 2022, agents say they have encountered 2.7 million migrants, one million more than the previous year.

San Antonio, Texas, is one of the first places where those who pass through are transferred, in particular the Migrant Resource Center, where those who have the approval of the police can stay for a few days, clean up, eat, before getting a ticket to reunite with their families while they resolve their legal situation. We spoke to some exhausted migrants emerging from this giant hangar, with restricted access. Karina is 38 years old, she is a teacher and comes from Venezuela.

“I have a month and four days traveling. I had to go through the Darién jungle and the subsequent ones to get here, ”she explains. “The Darién jungle is the most inhospitable in the world, where all kinds of ferocious animals are found, there are criminal robberies, mafias. There are many violations, it is something very ugly, ”he summarizes.

Arriving at the San Antonio migrant shelter is a relief after crossing natural and police borders. Cristian is a young Venezuelan. “In Ciudad Juárez I was imprisoned for five days and then another three days in Piedras Negras. It was ugly because they feed you pure water, apples, hamburgers”, he deplores.

Many, like Robert, come from Nicaragua, lashing out at the Daniel Ortega regime and misery. He left his wife and his three children there. “I am a peasant who worked in the fields to bring sustenance to my family to the table. But the problem in Nicaragua is the government, day by day it makes it very hard, very difficult. Imagine, for a farmer like me, the salary is worth two notebooks and a pencil”, he explains.

Without knowing it, these immigrants have become pawns in local politics. Republican governors of Texas and Florida have bused or flown Southern newcomers from San Antonio to wealthy Democratic-ruled northern states. They estimate that, if they are in favor of opening the borders, they should pay for the expenses.

Republican Greg Abbott, who since April has sent thousands of asylum seekers to northern states to protest President Joe Biden’s immigration policy, is running for re-election.

Immigrants transferred in this electoral framework do not seem aware of what is happening to them. Antonio Fernández, general director of Catholic Charities, helps migrants who need support or tickets to reunite with their families.

“I think those people have been misled because clearly they don’t know where they’re going. They have been promised one thing or another and it has not been fulfilled,” he assures RFI.