At the Mexican border, the distress of migrants expelled from the United States

Audio 01:31

Undocumented migrants cross the Rio Grande, trying to cross from Ciudad Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, to El Paso, in the state of Texas in the United States, on March 22, 2021. Pedro PARDO AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

Many migrants are currently arriving in northern Mexico, on the border with the United States, with the hope that the policy of new President Joe Biden will be favorable to them.

But as the tenant of the White House has been hammering for several weeks, the border is closed.

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With our special correspondent in Ciudad Juarez

,

Alix Hardy

At the

Ciudad Juarez

border post

, every day, families of migrants who thought they had touched the mark are deported from the

United States

to Mexico, without even understanding what is happening to them.

These migrants cross the bridge and their faces crumble when they understand where they are.

This Monday, they entered the United States after a long journey to the border.

This Tuesday, they are deported without further trial in Mexico.

 We were put on a plane to Ciudad Juarez without telling us where we were really going.

We were supposed to go to another American detention center, to continue the administrative process in the United States.

And surprise, that's the rest of the process: we meet in Juarez.

It's a blow 

, ”said Jayson, a 26-year-old Honduran, carrying his two-year-old son.

A way of sowing trouble to better dissuade migrants 

"

“ 

We lied to them the better to expel them.

And the most difficult for them is yet to come: the Mexican authorities are talking to them about finding them a refuge, but the reception centers are full in Juarez.

There is no more room,

 ”adds Victor, psychologist for an NGO in Juarez, who observes this helpless game.

Every day in Ciudad Juarez,

dozens of families with children are sent back

under a health measure decreed by Donald Trump and pursued by Joe Biden.

"

 The United States used the pandemic to justify a completely discretionary policy,

denounces Blanca Navarrete, defender of the rights of the migrants

.

Since the election of Joe Biden, we have heard a lot that migrants can in theory access asylum again, unlike Donald Trump's time.

But in reality, because of this measure, this right still remains inaccessible.

It is a way of sowing trouble to better dissuade migrants.

 "

► 

See also: United States: on the Texas border with Mexico, the disillusionment of asylum seekers

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  • United States

  • Mexico

  • Immigration

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