Cities are overwhelmed and uncertainty borders

Local authorities in many major cities in the United States admit that they have collapsed with the unexpected arrival of immigrants. The authorities say they cannot cope and explain their reasons.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, who visited El Paso, Texas, this week, is hoping to receive federal funds for the immigration crisis facing the Big Apple, which could cost him $2,000 billion in a time of budget deficit, he warned.

In recent months, New York City has — along with others — recorded an unexpected increase in the number of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States and Shipped from other countries Like Texas and Arizona, which are both controlled by GOP governments, they argue that other off-border states should face the pressures of immigration.

Our cities are being undermined and we don’t deserve it. Immigrants don’t deserve this and neither do people who live in cities. We expect more from our national leaders to address this problem in a real way,” the mayor added when visiting the border last weekend.

This phenomenon has put pressure on the shelter system in New York and prompted authorities to look for other places to house people and to suggest temporary tented facilities. The situation led to Mayor Adams declaring a state of emergency in October.

“There are websites advertising that in New York City, basically, the streets are paved with gold, that there are automatic jobs, that you will automatically live in a hotel. We have to give people accurate information,” Adams said. There is a place in the city.

Borderline uncertainty

At the southern border, Venezuelan migrants in Matamoros, Mexico, who are seeking permission to enter the United States legally, say they worry that their scheduled appointments will take place at border ports far from where they are.

“My appointment was on the 18th, I have it in Hidalgo, in Reynosa,” he told L.A Voice of America Jose Antonio Marquez, Venezuelan immigrant.

With the announcement of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) The new appointment scheduling function via mobile app CBP onefor which they expect the border to be processed “in a humane, orderly and safe manner”, anxiety and fear also arrived among the immigrants who managed to make an appointment.

“What will the process be like from now on? What will happen on the 18th? What do they ask of you? What do they ask of you and whether one really has access or not?” he said. , He said.

Venezuelan immigrant Dexmar Marilyn Peruzzo, who was scheduled for Jan. 29 on the bridge in Laredo, Texas, confirmed that distance is a common problem. “Just like me, there are several people who are assigned to other bridges that are very far from here, and they are in San Ysidro, Nuevo Laredo, Piedras Negras, and Juarez.”

According to the Department of Homeland Security, appointments are through the mobile app CBP one It is intended for immigrants who can prove that they are in exceptional humanitarian situations. The authorities explain that it is not an asylum application and that the designation does not guarantee entry into the country.

Through this process, President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to expand legal immigration pathways, reduce irregular crossings, and increase border security.

“There are laws to get here legally,” Biden said recently. His first visit to the southern borderas a heads up.

However, the thousands of Venezuelan migrants who arrived in Matamoros now face the challenge of moving to different ports of entry along the border, which, they say, indicates that they are once again exposed to dangers – chief among them theft and kidnapping – in Mexico, and So they suffer abuse For some immigration agents in that country.

“Yes, yes, they threaten them, tell them they have to pay money to let them continue, and then if they don’t have them, they take them away; then they lose the chance to enter,” said Luis José Carrasquel. , a Venezuelan immigrant, consulted him Voice of America.

Another immigrant from Venezuela, Jose Antonio Marquez, claimed to have been a victim of similar abuse. “Even the authorities here in Mexico took my permit a while ago and tore it up,” he said in his testimony.

[Con información de Víctor Castillo, enviado especial a Matamoros, y de Ángela González, desde Nueva York]

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