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Dozens of Venezuelans who are stuck in northern Mexico protested this October 19 in the border city of Tijuana. The migrants reject the new policy of the Joe Biden government that includes the expulsion to their neighboring country of Venezuelans who arrive in the United States irregularly. The UN expressed concern that the move would leave families without safe places to take refuge in the dangerous border region.
In the midst of despair over the deportations of Venezuelan migrants, after the new immigration policy of the United States, around 200 people staged a riot, at the station of the National Institute of Migration (INM) in Tijuana, a city in northern Mexico and border with California.
Sources quoted by EFE indicated that the protest began in the early hours of this Wednesday, October 19, when some 40 people broke into the station to incite migrants held in cells to join the mobilization.
Most of the detainees were reportedly recently deported from US territory.
The migrants demand that they not be detained in their attempt to cross into the United States and that those who arrive without authorization in the neighboring country are not returned to Mexico, as established by Washington.
The protest detonated in a strong operation by members of the local security forces and the National Guard, “to try to safeguard the integrity of the personnel and the migrants themselves,” said the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Tijuana, José Fernando Sánchez. .
After the revolt, a group of Venezuelans was transferred to the INM station in Mexicali, capital of Baja California, to maintain greater control, Mexican officials explained.
Last Wednesday, October 12, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that as of that same day the authorities began to deport Venezuelan migrants to Mexico who arrived at their border irregularly.
Until then, Venezuelans who arrived on US soil had humanitarian parole, a mechanism that allowed them to remain in that nation to request asylum.
But under the new rules, those interested must apply from their country of origin and their trip, which must be by air, will depend on US officials approving it, after verifying that they have a sponsor in US territory. , able to provide them with “financial and other support”.
With this regulation, the Joe Biden Administration assured that it opens a legal way to receive up to 24,000 people from the South American nation heavily hit by a long political and economic crisis.
However, many of those affected highlight the obstacles to complying with the required requirements, especially in a country where it is extremely difficult for its citizens to obtain a passport.
The UN points out concern over the massive expulsions of Venezuelan migrants from the US.
The United Nations Organization warned that the new deportation policy from the United States to Mexico is leaving dozens of families without a safe place to take refuge in the dangerous border region.
The UN expressed concern about the saturation of shelters in the area.
Since the measure took effect last week, more than 3,000 Venezuelans have been returned to Mexican territory, said Dana Graber Ladek, head of mission in Mexico for the UN-backed International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“It is very worrying to see people who are outside the shelters, there is no space,” Ladek said, adding that families with vulnerable people, including pregnant women, single mothers and people with illnesses, are also being pushed out.
The IOM reported that it plans to work with local governments to increase accommodation space in Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, although the situation is complex since they are places that are already dealing with a large number of migrants of various nationalities.
Ciudad Juarez, along with El Paso, Texas, has received the most migrants, with more than 1,000 people, followed by Tijuana, which borders San Diego, California, with about 700, according to local officials.
On Tuesday, October 18, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported that he held a dialogue on migration with his US counterpart, Joe Biden.
The White House said in a statement that the two leaders discussed “actions to reduce the number of people crossing the US-Mexico border illegally and to expand legal pathways as an alternative to irregular migration.”
Despite the deportations, the Government of Mexico warns that many Venezuelans are still heading to the north of their country with the intention of reaching the border with the United States.
With Reuters and EFE
