Migrants grow frustrated in Mexico, leading to desperate attempts at entering the US
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX) — Since it looks like Title 42 – a public health law first invoked by the Trump administration to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. as a public health risk – will no longer be lifted in May, that has left many migrants making desperate attempts at entering the country.
Some incidents this week with Texas Department of Public Safety, state troopers and migrants have shown how dire the situation has gotten.
Migrants have grown frustrated with the CBP One App – originally intended for commerical vehicles to schedule cargo inspections, but now used as part of the application process for many seeking entry to the U.S.
However, migrants; frustration doesn't end there.
Many alleged being victims of crime by Mexican police and the cartel.
Some told KFOX they were going to do whatever they can to get inside the Untied States.
The police, the cartel, from many people speaking truthfully in Mexico, migrants have no protection; we have nothing here in Mexico," a Venezuelan migrant said.
The Venezuelan migrant entered the country illegally after waiting for three months to get an appointment through the CBP One App.
Yesterday I made the attempt but I couldn't go through because the cartel didn't let me through. They're capturing Venezuelans and not letting us through," another Venezuelan migrant said.
A Venezuelan migrant in Juarez told KFOX after being caught by the cartel, they left him with a warning.
They cut his fingers off, they hit them with bats on their hands and broke their bones, they told us without money to not come back," the Venezuelan migrant said.
Workers with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center has been on the ground in Juarez.
The workers are there four days a week and try to help migrants book an appointment but they too have run into delays.
We’ve also had the same problem from the 500 individuals that we have helped, I think that only two cases have been successful and not while they’re with us," Crystal Sandoval, the Director of Strategic Initiative and Codirector of Las Americas Mexico, said.
While on the ground Las Americas advocates said there hasn't been a migrant they've encountered that has not been victimized by Mexican officials, police, and the cartel, and because migrants feel that there's no protection, a lot has gone unreported.
"For somebody that has been raped and then goes to do a rape kit, because of their status as migrants, sometimes they will be declined of services. [They, the providers] telli them because they’re migrants they are not able to get services," Sandoval said.
The desperation on the border turned deadly for a man from Weatherford, Texas this week.
He fell off an overpass while trying to evade apprehension from Texas State Troopers after a failed smuggling pursuit and a vehicle chase.
"These smugglers have no sense of, 'per say,' safety. They have no sense that they don’t realize, or they don’t see these people as people, these are ‘I just have to get paid I have to get them from this spot to this spot’," Fidel Baca, a Border Patrol agent, said.
From October 2022 to the end of February 2023 the El Paso border sector has apprehended more than 220,000 migrants, according to Border Patrol.
