Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
CNN
—
When José Guillermo Cabrera arrived last weekend in Ciudad Juarez, a city along the U.S.-Mexico border, he was full of hope. “I felt like any migrant, excited, after so much time waiting,” Cabrera, 33, told CNN.
Ciudad Juarez was supposed to be a transit city for Cabrera and his family, a final stop before their long-awaited time before U.S. immigration authorities to seek asylum.
For several months, Cabrera had been trying to have his request for asylum heard by the American authorities, while he was sailing in southern Mexico. In early January, confirmation came that he had finally secured an appointment.
But a day before the nomination, a stroke of President Donald Trump’s pen shut down the U.S. immigration processing app known as CBP One — and with it, Cabrera’s hopes.
“So much waiting time, and now this surprise,” Cabrera said in a defeated voice. “They shut down our dreams.”
Until Trump’s inauguration on January 20, migrants seeking asylum fleeing violence or persecution had the option of making an appointment at a legal port of entry into the United States to make their case.
“We are adrift, we no longer have resources, we arrived in Juarez with money to pay for a night in a hotel,” said this Venezuelan native.
Cabrera is one of several migrants CNN spoke with who recently arrived in Ciudad Juarez after weeks of traveling for their CBP One appointments, only to find that the sessions they were given were canceled.
Today, many find themselves stranded, with no money and no idea what to do next.
It was just below freezing in Ciudad Juarez on Monday when Cabrera realized what had happened, but he and his family decided to try anyway to explain the situation to U.S. immigration authorities at the Paso del Bridge. Norte, which connects the Mexican city to that of Texas. from El Paso.
“I had a glimmer of hope,” Cabrera told CNN, battling the cold in a leather jacket and with a winter mask covering most of his face.
But they were quickly turned away. Cabrera and his family were instead directed to a local Mexican public agency for further advice. There they were served hot soup, but given little information on how to pursue their cause.
Erlianny Colombie, 41, left Cuba seven months ago and was living in Tapachula, in southern Mexico, with three relatives.
After finding a place to work and live in Tapachula, he requested a meeting with U.S. officials.
“We were lucky, we got an appointment,” Colombia told CNN. “So we bought bus tickets, we got permission to cross Mexico, a lot of sacrifices, we did everything legally.”
But the travel and paperwork costs have stretched his resources to the breaking point. “We had enough money for the day before our meeting … and now we are on the street,” he said.
Colombia – who says he fled Cuba due to political persecution – says he “understands” Trump’s decision but asks the president to reconsider for those who already had an appointment.
“If we were already in the process, Mr. Trump, please continue with the scheduled meetings, don’t leave us stuck here,” he said.
This sentiment is shared by other migrants, who say they have scrupulously followed the rules imposed on them by the United States and deserve to be heard.
“Give us another opportunity,” Venezuelan migrant Rosalyn Vargas, 33, asked Trump.
“We came here for a better future, we are human beings, we did everything legally, we followed the process,” Vargas said from a shelter where she lives with other relatives.
“We all have a story to tell. I fled Venezuela because I was persecuted, please return our appointments,” compatriot Oswal Paredes told CNN.
Migrant shelters in Ciudad Juarez are hosting some of the migrants now stranded.
Casa del Migrante, a shelter located about 10 miles from the border, says it offers shelter, food and psychological help to migrants whose appointments have been canceled.
“Right now they are emotionally destroyed, after so much fighting, all these marches, many of them crossed the Darién Gap,” Ivonne Lopez, a social worker at Casa del Migrante, told CNN, referring to a dangerous passage in the jungle that many have crossed. migrants must travel on foot to cross from South America to North America.
“They want a sign of hope, they want to know what’s going to happen to them, their appointment was canceled, but is there another option,” Lopez said, adding that “luckily they have lawyers who help migrants.
Some local officials have taken a more heavy-handed approach to migrants, emphasizing that it is unrealistic to continue trying to reach the United States.
“We have to tell it like it is, unfortunately all appointments are suspended as well as any possibility of getting one,” Enrique Serrano, coordinator of the state population agency, told CNN from Chihuahua.
“They won’t achieve anything by trying at the crossing points and hoping that the United States will welcome them,” he said.
Serrano says Mexican city, state and federal officials are working together to resolve the migrant crisis in Ciudad Juarez and other border cities.
“The migrants here need to stay calm, there are no instructions for raids here on the Mexican side, the instructions we have been given are to give them appropriate treatment,” Serrano said.
“Juarez’s shelters are operating at 40% capacity,” Serrano also said, noting that many Mexican border cities are expanding their shelter spaces in anticipation of mass expulsions from the United States.
For now, all of the migrants interviewed by CNN said they would not give up – preferring to remain in limbo near the border and continue to hope that their votes would reach Trump, after coming so close .
“Everything changed from one moment to the next, we went from hope to despair,” said Fabian Delgado, 23, from a shelter.
