Sister Maria Tello Claro, the director of Casa del Migrante, defined that the temper at her shelter has turned to disappointment and anguish since Trump’s inauguration.
The shelter, designed to accommodate 170 folks, at present homes 190 migrants primarily from Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador and Haiti.
Tello noticed that lots of the residents, together with Martino and Alvarado, had been held hostage in some unspecified time in the future throughout their journeys to the border.
“Right here it’s harmful as a result of they are often kidnapped. In truth, they’re being kidnapped,” Tello mentioned.
However Tello defined that the migrants and asylum seekers she is aware of have few choices. “The place are they going to go? A few of them can’t return to their nations.”
She added that the US’s 90-day pause on overseas support spending has additionally restricted the shelter’s capability to deal with the wants of migrants and asylum seekers.
Different nongovernmental organisations supply assist to Casa del Migrante, however their budgets have dried up within the wake of the help freeze. Casa del Migrante has already misplaced one in all its two volunteer counselling psychologists consequently.
Tello defined that she and her colleagues have had a number of conferences with different shelters to debate how one can present assist, however they’re not sure what to do.
“We go daily,” Tello mentioned.
Johanna Ovando, 31, is among the many asylum seekers stranded on the border. She fled El Salvador together with her husband, two kids and mom.
She feared her nation’s gangs would prey on her eldest son now that he has turned 10, a chief age for recruitment.
El Salvador’s authorities has responded to gang violence by imposing an iron-fisted safety crackdown, leading to widespread human rights abuses. That solely heightened the dangers of staying.
However now that Ovando and her household are caught on the US-Mexico border, she wonders if she made the appropriate determination. In Mexico, she mentioned, her household has confronted discrimination, abuse and extortion.
“There’s intercourse trafficking, and one walks with the worry of persecution,” Ovando mentioned. Evaluating the scenario to El Salvador, she added, “It’s the identical over there, however it’s our nation.”
Ovando plans to remain yet another month at a shelter in Matamoros. If the asylum course of doesn’t resume, she and her household will go away.
“We can’t keep right here,” Ovando mentioned. “It’s very insecure.”
For Martino, nevertheless, returning just isn’t an choice. He feels that going again in spite of everything he survived would imply defeat.
“Persistence runs out, hope ends and lots of issues should be taken under consideration,” Martino mentioned. “However calmly, with endurance and quite a lot of religion, we put every little thing in God’s fingers.”
However he acknowledged his destiny can be within the US president’s fingers, and he’s hoping for some indication of what his future holds: “Donald Trump additionally has to present solutions.”
