Tijuana, Mexico.
The halting of the wall on the United States-Mexico border, announced by the new President of the United States, Joe Biden, became a hope of realizing the American dream for hundreds of migrants, mostly Central Americans. who ran aground in the Mexican city of Tijuana.
On his first day as president, Wednesday, Biden signed a decree, among other things, to stop the construction of the wall with Mexico and to cancel the immigration veto that prevents citizens of 11 countries from entering the United States, a call of hope for migrants.
“Hopefully there will be no more wall as we all have a need, more for our children and families,” said Cindy, originally from Honduras, to Efe, who arrived in Tijuana at the age of 30 a year and a half ago, accompanied by her 9-year-old. son, who wants to reach the United States through humanitarian asylum.
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Seeing the complexity of the procedures to apply for asylum, the woman decided a few weeks after her arrival to head out into the sea of Playas de Tijuana and although she managed to swim to the American Union, she was deported the same day. .
“Now we have opportunities to cross, not only for me but for other people and we hope that everything will go well because with that wall there is more danger and more problems,” said the now resident of the Agape shelter.
THE WALL OF TRUMP
The migrants called this artificial division “Donald Trump’s wall,” since the former president was the main promoter, but previous US presidents also promoted its installation.
From Bill Clinton (1993-2001) to Trump (2017-2020), through George W. Bush (2001-2009 and Barack Obama (2009-2017), the wall has added 1,488 miles of construction that Biden has now halted.
That decision was welcomed on Thursday by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who assured that he had seen “very well” the immigration plan of the new US president and celebrated the suspension of works on the border wall.
“We have nothing to object to, on the contrary. We agree that this is what needs to be done. We see it well, very well,” López Obrador said at a press conference.
In addition to the strike in the controversial work, Biden’s government also plans to scrap the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program, which forces asylum seekers in the United States to wait for their processing in Mexico, which has thousands of migrants at the border stranded. .
This is the situation in which Delis, originally from Honduras, has lived in Tijuana for 18 months with her two children, and although she doesn’t work in this Mexican city for fear of insecurity, she wants to come to the United States to improve. her life.
“You can’t go through this wall and this is difficult for the people who come here because of threats, I see this is fine not to go through because this is what is holding them back,” he told Efe.
The messages in favor of a new migration policy are benefiting the migrant community, as shared by José María García, director and founder of Juventud 2000 and coordinator of the Alianza Migrante in Tijuana.
“We see in a positive way that by entering (Biden) that action that former President Trump took has been removed and is now seen as coming with good intent, to remove the wall,” he said in an interview.
THE WORK DIDN’T STOP
But on a tour of the border about 14 miles (22 kilometers) from San Ysidro, California, Efe was able to verify that construction work is still underway on a remaining section to install steel bars from the border wall.
It was even possible to record how a migrant family, consisting of a woman and two minors, crossed the territory to surrender to the elements of the Border Patrol, an action that is common among those living next to this border.
The same situation observed in the Juárez-El Paso section, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where construction work on the border wall continued today.
During his administration, construction was a weapon Trump repeatedly used in defense of his country that his followers liked.
He always said his construction was running at full speed, that he would be ready before the end of his term and that construction costs would be paid by Mexico.
Regarding the continuation of the work, Fernando García, director and founder of the Border Network of Human Rights, specified that the law is being violated by continuing such a construction, saying that “they must stop the work immediately because a presidential decree is being violated. follow “.
He assured that in Ciudad Juárez they would not be abandoned by Biden’s words and so they invited the community of El Paso to carry out a caravan next Saturday to demand the cessation of the work.
In 2019, Mexico militarized the border with Guatemala to curb the arrival of caravans of Central American migrants to the United States after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican exports, but both leaders changed their relationship and met in Washington last year. .