More Venezuelans stuck in Mexico, fewer illegally crossing into U.S.

When asked about the most difficult leg of the eight-country journey to the U.S. border, Venezuelan migrants are often quick to answer, and it’s not the days-long jungle trek through Colombia and Panama, home to venomous snakes, giant Spiders and scorpions. This is Mexico.

“In the jungle, you have to be prepared for the animals. In Mexico, you have to be prepared for the humans,” said Daniel Ventura, 37, while crossing the Darien Gap Three days later and a four-month wait in Mexico to legally use the U.S. to enter the United States. The government’s online booking system, called CBP One. He and his family of six were traveling to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, where he had a relative.

Venezuelans have been hit particularly hard by Mexico’s crackdown on immigration in recent months, at the urging of the Biden administration. The development underscores the U.S.’s reliance on Mexico to control immigration, which has reached unprecedented levels and is top of mind for voters as President Joe Biden seeks re-election.

The number of immigrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped this year after hitting a record high in December. The largest decline was among Venezuelans, whose arrests plummeted from 49,717 in December to 3,184 in February and 4,422 in January.

Although two months in, no trend has emerged and illegal crossings remain high by historical standards, Mexico’s strategy of keeping migrants closer to the Guatemalan border than the United States has given the Biden administration at least some temporary relief.

Venezuelans began traveling to the U.S. in large numbers in 2021, first by plane to Mexico and then on foot and by bus after Mexico imposed visa restrictions. In September, Venezuelans briefly replaced Mexicans as the ethnic group with the largest number of people crossing the border.

Mexico’s efforts include forcing migrants off trains, taking planes and buses to the country’s southern regions, and flying some back to Venezuela.

Last week, Mexico said it would provide each deported Venezuelan about $110 a month for six months in the hope they would not return. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made the offer to Ecuadorians and Colombians on Tuesday.

López Obrador, who is unable to run in June due to term limits, said: “If you support people where they come from, the flow of immigrants will be significantly reduced, but it requires resources, and that’s what the U.S. Something the government doesn’t want to do.” Elections.

Migrants say they must pay corrupt officials at frequent government checkpoints in Mexico to avoid being sent back to southern cities. Every setback is costly and frustrating.

Yessica Gutierrez, 30, who left Venezuela in January with 15 family members, including young children, said: “At the end of the day, it’s a business because no matter you Everywhere they go, they want to take the last thing you have.” They hiked through the bush, avoiding some checkpoints.

The group is currently in Mexico City waiting for an appointment so they can legally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. To use the CBP One application, applicants must be located in central or northern Mexico. So Gutierrez’s team sleeps in two donated tents across the street from a migrant shelter and checks the app every day.

Since its launch in January 2023, more than 500,000 immigrants have used the app to enter the United States from land ports in Mexico. Under the president’s parole authorization, they can stay in the United States for two years and are entitled to work.

“I would rather cross the jungle 10 times than cross Mexico once,” said Jose Alberto Uzcategui, who was traveling with his wife and sons, ages 5 and 7. A family of 11 people quit a construction job in Trujillo, Venezuela. They are biding their time in Mexico City until they have enough money to buy a cell phone so they can use CBP One.

The Panamanian government says the vast majority of the 73,166 migrants who crossed the Darien Gorge in January and February were Venezuelans, a number that is on track to surpass last year’s record of more than 500,000, a sign that Venezuelans are still fleeing a country with more to lose. country of immigrants. More than 7 million people are experiencing political unrest and economic recession. Mexican authorities intercepted Venezuelan migrants more than 56,000 times in February, roughly double the number in the previous two months, according to government data.

“The fundamental question here is: Where are the Venezuelans? They are in Mexico, but where are they?” said Stephanie Brewer, Mexico director for the Washington Office on Latin America, which monitors human rights violations.

Mexico has deported only about 429 Venezuelans in the first two months of 2024, meaning nearly all of them are waiting in Mexico.

Many people worry about venturing north of Mexico City and getting scammed or returning to southern Mexico. The United States is admitting 1,450 people a day through CBP One, with appointments scheduled two weeks later.

Even as they evade Mexican authorities, migrants feel threatened by kidnapping, extortion and other violent criminal gangs.

“You have to go from town to town because the cartels need to put food on their plates,” said Maria Victoria Colmenares, 27, who was waiting for a CBP One appointment in Mexico City For seven months, she worked as a waitress to support her family. The husband works at a car wash.

“It’s worth the wait because it’s going to pay off,” said Colmenares, who took a taxi from the Tijuana airport to the San Diego border crossing hours before her appointment on Tuesday.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has touted his own efforts to explain a recent decline in illegal border crossings in his state, where at least 95% of Venezuelan arrests by the Border Patrol occur. Those include installing razor wire, floating barriers on the Rio Grande and developing plans to build new bases for National Guard members.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attributed the drop in border apprehensions largely to Mexico.

Despite the dangers, some Venezuelans are still heading north.

Marbelis Torrealba, 35, arrived this week in Matamoros, Texas, across the border from Brownsville with her sister and niece, carrying the ashes of her daughter whose boat capsized in Nicaragua He drowned. She said they were robbed by Mexican officials and gangs and returned to southern Mexico several times.

A shelter arranged for them to enter the United States legally on urgent humanitarian grounds, but she was preparing to cross illegally.

“The worst thing I’ve ever been through: watching my child die in front of me and not being able to do anything about it.”