The women sat on the wooden tables in the shelter. Some are carrying their children. It is time to eat and there they go in small groups to the center of the dining room, their voices go over the walls and they can all be heard talking about a rumor that started in Central America and it came to Motherhouse Assunta, in Tijuana: the border with state United opens.
On January 20, the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, will protest. The government of Donald Trump and for the migrants According to them, this change means the reactivation of asylum procedures.
María, one of the migrants living in Madre Assunta, a women’s shelter, explains that she is only waiting for her family to arrive so they can try to cross the road together. She, like other companions of it Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, thinks that with the new president, the US policy of excluding migrants will change.
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“There [en Honduras] They told my husband it will be easier ‘, explains María as she watches over her son playing with the other children in the shelter,’ that after the 20th [de enero] They’re going to let us apply for asylum and then because Trump is leaving, ”he says.
Marisol is one of the women who arrived at the shelter a few days ago. She ended up trapped in the city by the pandemic COVID-19, after the border is closed for non-essential activities, such as asylum applications.
“All those who are here want to cross,” explains Sister Salomé, “either deported or just arrived or are in open asylum procedures, waiting for them to resume their activities, like Marisol … all of them are waiting it’s time to transfer stabbing “.
Migrants arriving in shelters can spend from two months to a year.
Carlos is one of the newcomers Youth hostel 2000. With him are his wife and three children. They left Guatemala on a journey that took months as they first tried to cross the border through the Colorado River, but they came by Border Patrol and were deported to Chiapas. Now they arrived in Tijuana for the second time.
“I heard on the road that they will open the border on the 20th, right? We just hold on because we only have one or two weeks left here … and we have nowhere to go … but we don’t take much time, just the new one arrives [presidente] and we jump “, Carlos assures
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“We have no choice but to wait”
However, the migrant population awaiting political asylum in the United States on the border of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, is skeptical of the life change that Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House could mean for them. Although there are rumors about the possible change of migration policy during its first 100 days of reign.
Located in one of the most backward neighborhoods of this border town, the hostel and dining hall Pan de Vida currently houses 139 migrants from Central and South America and, despite expectations that may have been before Donald Trump’s departure, has failed registered new income in recent weeks.
For Ana María, who arrived from Honduras almost a year ago, there are not many expectations about the change of president: “I don’t think things will change, you don’t lose hope, but I don’t think it will be easier, we have no choice but to wait “.
Ismael Martínez Santiago, director of the shelter, explains that the number of people entering and leaving has not changed significantly and those who have been there have been there for a year to two months.
Also read: Mexico asks to stop migrating caravans
According to data from State Population Council (Coespo)Between 8 and 10 thousand migrants live on this border, but only one thousand are distributed among the 17 care or reception centers for migrants, so the majority are on the street.
“Biden will decide the fate of everyone”
In the Senda de Vida house, in Reynosa, TamaulipasNor has the belief that things can change thanks to the new American president has been lost.
145 migrants have been housed here for almost a year, 35 of whom are minors; some of it Nigeria, Haiti and Ghana.
“I don’t believe we can ring the bells until we know what Biden’s immigration policy will be. It will be the president who will determine the fate of all migrants stranded at the Mexican border who find themselves in difficult situations because they have no home or money to support themselves, ”said Héctor Silva, director of this shelter.