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Migrant children who camp with their parents in painful conditions in the Ciudad Juárez border, awaiting asylum in the United States, received gifts from a group of fans of the local football team, cast starring one of them characterized as Santa Claus.

The followers of FC Juarez surprised on Christmas day dozens of Mexican and Central American children who spent the night for months next to the international bridge Paso del Norte-Santa Fe, entrance gate to El Paso, in Texas.

The group called El Kartel , made up of more than 400 fans of the Braves , distributed toys among the small migrants fleeing with their parents of violence and poverty that hits regions of Mexico and Central America.

"Thank you for making my daughter smile this Christmas," says Kevin Nolás, who worked as a taxi driver in the violent state of Guerrero (south), where organized crime began to extort him.

While his 6-year-old daughter Yaremi plays with a children's makeup set and a pink tea set, Nolás says that on Christmas Eve they ate chicken that neighbors took them to the camp where they sleep. Their campaign rooms are covered with plastic propped up with stones for rainy days.

Toys to relieve grief

Although some nights the thermometer marks 7 degrees below zero , some 400 Mexican migrants remain next to three international bridges in Ciudad Juárez, reports the municipal director of Human Rights, Rogelio Pinal.

Francisco Almodóvar, a 50-year-old fan of the Braves , was the one who put on Santa's suit to visit the migrant children, whom he hugged and I wish a merry Christmas.

"It's a very nice thing. Everyone is welcome here," says Almodóvar.

José Javier Molinar, representative of El Kartel , explains that the objective was to mitigate the hard trance they face, especially children.

"I know that parents do it to give them a better future , but, after all, they have nothing and bring them a toy, something that makes them get out for a moment of what they are living, we were made the best way to that we could help, "Molinar explains.

Of the Mexicans who camp next to the international bridges, 90% are displaced from violence according to a migration survey presented two weeks ago by a group of academics from the state of Chihuahua, to which Ciudad Juárez belongs.

"Crossing is the gift I want"

Staff of the local Casa del Migrante also celebrated Christmas with about 200 Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans .

A man dressed as Santa Claus distributes toys among migrant children camped in Ciudad Juarez waiting for asylum in the US Jose Luis Gonzalez

Some will ask for asylum for the first time, while others await in US territory the response of US courts to their requests, according to an agreement established by both governments.

"They gave us Christmas presents and we felt happy, but sometimes we feel sad," says Jaquelin, a 12-year-old Guatemalan girl, who asked Santa Claus to enter the United States after being returned to Mexico, where he waits for his appointment before the court of El Paso on February 18.

"That they let us cross everyone, that's the gift I want," confesses the girl, who travels with her father and her 9-year-old brother. His mother and his other younger brother are already in the United States, processing asylum.

According to data from the National Migration Institute (INM), since last March more than 18,000 Spanish-speaking foreigners have been returned to Mexico by Ciudad Juarez , but no authority is certain how many remain at the border.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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