EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Seven out of 10 migrants who found the U.S. border closed for asylum after Jan. 20 did not return to their countries or origin but instead chose to remain in Mexico.
Those migrants, including many families with young children, are now looking for stable employment for themselves and for a Mexican school that will take in their children.
That’s according to the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Juarez, Mexico.
“We are seeing great interest from people in looking for a (lawful) stay, on integrating to Mexico. A great number of people are looking for an education for their children, on having a formal job in Mexico,” said Iliana Martell, head of the IOM office in Juarez.
Martell did not say how many migrants remain in the city. Several church-run shelter operators say most of their guests have left and officials with the Center for Migrant Assistance in Juarez last week told local news media they are primarily serving migrants from the Mexican countryside.
But a considerable number of citizens from Latin American and Caribbean countries remain in Mexico, according to IOM.
“Seventy-two percent of (migrants) interviewed by us in Mexico say they have no interest in returning to their countries of origin but want to stay in Mexico,” Martell said.
The main obstacles for a lawful long-term stay in Mexico are money – migrants need stable employment – and the lack of documents needed to get a work permit or enroll their children in school.
That’s why the United Nations partner agency is sponsoring consular services fairs throughout Mexico, including one in Juarez this past weekend.
IOM secured space in a Juarez Pronaf-area building so staff from the consulates of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as representatives from the embassies of Brazil and Haiti could talk to their citizens. Many filled out forms to get a new passport or national identity card after losing the originals during the long trip to the U.S. border or having them stolen by criminals.
Migrants like William Gutierrez de la Cruz said they’ve spent the last four months just trying to survive day-to-day after arriving in Juarez after Jan. 20 (the day President Donald Trump took office) and finding the border closed to asylum-seekers.
The native of San Miguel Pochuta, Guatemala, said at times he’s had to sleep on the streets for lack of money, and now wants a full-time job.
“There is not lawful way to enter the United States, and that changes people’s priorities,” he said. “We came with the hope of going north, but with this situation with President Trump, we cannot do that. So, with the consulates here, we’re trying to get permits, a passport to legally work in Mexico, here in Juarez.”
Gutierrez said he is not going back to Guatemala. His country still suffers from gang-related violence, jobs are not well paid, and small-scale farming is afflicted by constant drought.
He still hopes the United States government will eventually restore asylum and many like him then will be able to cross the border. In the meantime, “We are going to try to stay here and work honestly like all the Mexicans, work in a factory or wherever they open the doors to us,” he said.
ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.
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