They dismantled a camp in Mexico but the immigrants arrived to cross into the United States.

Abrahama Pineda Gycom

Matamoros (Mexico), 6 March (EFE). The dismantling of the camp in the Mexican border city of Matamoros marks the end of former US President Donald Trump’s brutal immigration policy, as dozens return to town seeking fulfillment. The American Dream.

With the passage of the last group of asylum seekers to the United States, the authorities of the National Institute of Immigration and the municipality of Matamoros, Friday, rushed to clean up the site that had been inhabited by nearly two years of Central Americans, Mexicans and people. Of other nationalities.

What “thrived” in 2019 as a campsite, on the banks of the Rio Grande River, under unfavorable conditions, has been transformed into piles of tents and tons of waste that is estimated to be cleared within a week.

“It was a very sad, very tragic fact that it shouldn’t have existed, but it was. Now it has been corrected, and hopefully what we’ve seen here won’t happen again,” the Texas Valley Catholic Charities Coordinator told EFE. Norma Pimentel.

The irregular settlement, which was adjacent to Brownsville, Texas, was the scene of fateful images such as the deaths of Oscar and Valeria, an immigrant father and daughter, who drowned while trying to reach the United States.

On February 12, the Biden government announced the reopening of asylum seekers’ cases returning to Mexico from February 19 through a program run by former President Donald Trump.

This program, known as the Immigrant Protection Protocol (MPP, in English) or “stay in Mexico” (stay in Mexico), forced these people to stay in Mexico while awaiting their appointments in US immigration courts.

near future

More than 2,000 people were counted in the camp, but with the passage of time and the tightening of the Immigrant Protection Protocol (MPP in English), many families left the place, while others, tired of the precarious conditions, rented houses in Matamoros and the number decreased to 700.

Eight days after families began crossing into the United States, a process in which priority was given to those coming from the camp, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Friday reported a total of 731 refugees. Researchers who have already been reunited with their families on US soil.

“The camp is completely closed. Every immigrant in Mexico, who is in the MPP, will continue the UNHCR operation,” Pimentel said.

Some people remained in the area and the United States government could not summon them, but they will have to go to Casa del Migrante to continue the operation because the area has been sealed off by the Mexican authorities.

More concern

The reopening of the US-Mexico border has led to asylum seekers arriving in the Puente Nuevo region to wait for the opportunity, while children and adults are already sleeping out in the open on mats.

“It is worrying, because many groups from all over the world are stationed in the vicinity with the intention of crossing into the United States. This is not possible,” said Casa Del Migrante representative, Juan Antonio Sierra Vargas.

The PETA group – the agents who direct and help the migrants – held a meeting with the migrants who remained outside an unused official building, located near the border customs crossing, but the families did not leave.

History itself

Half a hundred citizens of Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua live crammed into space and face the hardship that MPP-related people experienced two years ago when they returned from the United States.

“There are no shelters and we stayed here. We have no food,” said Cesar Moncada, of Honduran descent.

Some activists have already begun to move, such as the Matamoros Resource Center, to create a shelter and meet the demand that has exploded in recent weeks.

“The camp is being dismantled, they will not open it, and we have no access to it,” said the migrant, who arrived with his wife and two children. EFE

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