Family from ten from Venezuela awaits asylum at the US limit

Family from ten from Venezuela awaits asylum at the US limit

in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the large room in El Buen Samaritano Schutzheim is usually calm during the day. Long rows of bunk beds extend from wall to wall, each separated by thin curtains or hanging sheets. A wide variety of mattresses are documented by men, women and children - all migrants who originally intended to reach the United States, but had to interrupt their trip prematurely.

The daily life of the migrants

It's a cold Tuesday afternoon. Most of the residents rest or scroll through their cell phones. The only noises in the room come from sporadic coughing fits, two playing children and the quiet tone of a video that runs on a cell phone. This scene has a repetitive.

at around 1 p.m. Lucymar Polanco, a 32-year-old Venezuelan, looks at her watch. "Children, it is almost so far for lunch," she calls as she gets up and overturns a coat. It is inside, but the walls are penetrated by the winter cold. "Everyone gets up, we have to get ready," she says.

challenges and uncertainties

her husband, the three children and five other relatives are ready and get ready. Shortly afterwards, an employee of the shelter announces that the food is served. "I'm hungry, finally!" says her 9-year-old son Abel Jesus. Polanco and the other nine members of their family are among the thousands of asylum seekers who were stopped by the decision of US President Donald Trump on January 20, all CBP one-dates for people who are looking for asylum for violence or persecution. Your date was scheduled for January 21. Now you are stranded in the protection home in Juarez, without money and full of uncertainty. From here you can look to the other side of the border to the USA - but you have no idea where it should go for you now.

lunch in the protection home

After you have put yourself in a snake, the family, whose members are between 5 and 40 years old, goes to the dining room of the shelter. They sit down and take up most of a community table. As soon as you sit, set aside all your problems for a moment and focus on talking to each other and enjoying the warm food. On the menu of the day, chicken soup and a small plate of rice and beans with tuna from the can.

"The most delicious soup really exists," says 9-year-old Abel Jesus with full mouth while the soup runs down his mouth. The adults chat and talk mainly about rumors that they have heard about the CBP One app. "I heard that appointments will be restored by January 30," says Luis Alfonso Polanco, 30, about a rumor that later turned out to be untrue. "A friend in the USA told me."

humor as a survival strategy

At the other end of the table, his partner Yelitza Olivero speaks with two other migrants from Ecuador and tells you the rumor about the app. The family talks about the situation on the border sometimes turn into laughter and jokes over each other. "We are trying to do jokes about ourselves. This is a way to distract from the sad news that we received on January 20," says Lucymar's Vetter, 18-year-old Estive Castillo. "It is important to support each other, so you make a joke, and we laugh and try to have a nice moment. If we only focus on our situation, we would all become depressed, so let's laugh, so so as not to cry," says Lucymar.

The escape from Venezuela

Lucymar and her family report that they fled the Venezuelan state of Lara, due to political persecution by the authoritarian government of President Nicolas Maduro. "We were part of an opposition party," she says. "My family, my parents, everyone there, and the government knew that, and we were constantly threatened. I should receive a house from a government program, but after finding out who I had voted in earlier elections, this privilege was withdrawn," she says and holds back the tears. < Before her departure from Venezuela, both Lucymar and her brother, Luis Alfonso, worked in the beauty industry. "I was a hairdresser in Venezuela, but the situation was so bad that I sometimes cut hair in exchange for food," says Luis Alfonso. Lucymar's husband, Jesus Caruci, 40, worked as a mechanic, and Yelitza, who is married to Luis Alfonso, worked on sale. The rest of the traveling family, all young adults or children, went to school before leaving.

The dangerous way through Mexico

her way started a little over two years ago. They spent a few months in neighboring Colombia and then traveled through several countries. They crossed the dangerous Darién gap safely-but were kidnapped by a cartel when they arrived in the south of Mexico. "When we arrived in Tapachula, they waited for us," recalls Luis Alfonso. "They put us on, forced us into a vehicle and claimed that they would take us to a safe place (...) but they brought us to a farm and held us there for six days." Luis Alfonso reports that the criminal group only exposed it after payment of $ 900 - everything they had with them. "Since then we have been living from the money that our family sends us or what we had to borrow," he says.

politics and its effects

After lunch, the family goes to the inner courtyard of the shelter to recharge your sun and continue chatting. They collect several plastic chairs that are distributed over the uneven and cracked ground of the shelter and form a circle. The little children decide to run around and play on a playground outdoors. "I understand Trump," says 19-year-old Beyker Sosa, while the family is silent. "There were crimes committed by illegal migrants, I understand the measures that they serve to protect the country," he adds. “But we are not criminals, I wish he (Trump) had compassion, we are people like him.”

entertainment in the protection home

When asked by CNN whether the family has ever thought about illegally entering the USA, they answer “No.” In the choir. "We never thought about entering illegally. We did not want to hide from the authorities, we wanted to be able to run freely," says Beyker. "It is very sad to have done everything right to go the legal way, just so that Trump closes the app, but I guess God doesn't want us to be there." The family reports that their smartphones and conversations are the only forms of entertainment in the protection home. "We can't even go outside. We were told that migrants are targeted in this area, so we stay inside, especially after we have already been kidnapped," explains Lucym.

Nevertheless, snacks are a must to employ the children. Luis Alfonso and Estives go to a shop around the corner to buy cookies and lemonade. When you come back, take part in the entertainment and pass on ore lime lime and a plastic cup. "Trump should tidy up Venezuela. We are good people, but he should remove the bad, especially those in the government. Take it out, Trump, and call our country Venezuela of America," jokes Beyker and refers to Trump's proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico into Gulf of America.

Almost two hours later, the family members are back in the large area of the shelter and make themselves comfortable again in their beds. "This is all we do. We are either in our beds or deal with our cell phones and ask what could have been," says Lucymar.