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More Cubans seek asylum in Mexico amid clampdown on legal path to US
Source: The Guardian
More Cubans seek asylum in Mexico amid clampdown on legal path to US
US-bound Cubans used to encounter far fewer obstacles on the migration passage, but that’s changed due to crackdowns
Nina Lakhani in Tenosique
Tue 3 Sep 2019 09.00 BST Last modified on Tue 3 Sep 2019 13.38 BST
Yatsel Jerez Ramón has been in Mexico for six weeks, and so far, nothing has gone well for the Cuban migrant trying to reach the United States.
On his first night in Tenosique, a small city in the southern border state of Tabasco, Jerez, 37, narrowly escaped a police raid at his hotel. The following day, a man posing as a state lawyer convinced him to hand over $500 to obtain a humanitarian visa with which, Jerez was told, he’d be able to safely continue his passage north.
Jerez was travelling with several other Cubans, and together they also forked out $2,000 for an amparo – a legal petition used to temporarily suspend deportation if detained by immigration agents.
“We arrived blind,” Jerez told the Guardian, “trusted in what people said, but everyone took advantage of us.”
Armed with the visa and amparo, Jerez boarded a bus heading north hoping to reach the US border within the week, but didn’t get far.
-snip-
US-bound Cubans used to encounter far fewer obstacles on the migration passage, but that’s changed due to crackdowns
Nina Lakhani in Tenosique
Tue 3 Sep 2019 09.00 BST Last modified on Tue 3 Sep 2019 13.38 BST
Yatsel Jerez Ramón has been in Mexico for six weeks, and so far, nothing has gone well for the Cuban migrant trying to reach the United States.
On his first night in Tenosique, a small city in the southern border state of Tabasco, Jerez, 37, narrowly escaped a police raid at his hotel. The following day, a man posing as a state lawyer convinced him to hand over $500 to obtain a humanitarian visa with which, Jerez was told, he’d be able to safely continue his passage north.
Jerez was travelling with several other Cubans, and together they also forked out $2,000 for an amparo – a legal petition used to temporarily suspend deportation if detained by immigration agents.
“We arrived blind,” Jerez told the Guardian, “trusted in what people said, but everyone took advantage of us.”
Armed with the visa and amparo, Jerez boarded a bus heading north hoping to reach the US border within the week, but didn’t get far.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/03/more-cubans-seek-asylum-in-mexico-amid-clampdown-on-legal-path-to-us