JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – Milagro Gonzalez Gamboa laughed as her 3-year-old son Andriu jumped up and down on a sofa and ran around the living room of a church-based community center in Central Juarez.
Just the fact that he’s alive is reason enough to smile. She almost lost him to a respiratory illness on a stormy night in the jungles of Panama a few weeks ago.
“It was very humid. He could not breathe. We had to come out of the tent to get help. They hooked him up to fluids and he got better. I worried so much,” Gonzalez said.
Andriu also experienced stomach discomfort on the way from Trujillo, Peru, to the U.S.-Mexico border. His mom explained she raised him on a healthy diet of fresh fruit, soup and other homemade dishes. Junk food and cheap sodas has been the standard fare on the 3,300-mile trip to the United States.
She doesn’t leave the shelter for fear he might be taken away from her on the street. Her nephew was kidnapped by armed men in southern Mexico and released after paying a ransom.
The ordeal is nearly over. Gonzalez, her husband and Andriu are seeking asylum in the United States and have a Monday appointment at an El Paso port of entry. The adults hope to pass a credible fear interview, get a notice to appear in immigration court and be free to travel to Houston, settle in, start working and have some spare dollars at the end of the month to send home to their parents.
But as they relaxed at the shelter last Tuesday, a new concern clouded their vision of the American dream. A newly elected president vows to close the border to illegal immigration and begin mass deportations of those who should not be in the country.
Gonzalez and other migrants at the Vida shelter in Juarez worry that will mean Donald Trump will end of asylum appointments and that the odds of denial will increase for those scheduled to go before an immigration judge.
“We already have our appointment, but it will be disappointing for those who are still in other countries or crossing the jungles. They are already asking themselves what will happen to them with the rumors (the U.S.) will cancel CBP One,” added Escarlet Rodriguez, 22, a Venezuelan mom and asylum-seeker. “You are coming with the idea of a better future, and they decide to close (the border) overnight. If they close the app, it will be a shock to those families.”
The CBP One app since last year has been used by hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers to enter the U.S. through a port of entry. Since President Joe Biden issued an executive order on June 4, that’s the only lawful way for them to come in while they await a final ruling on their case – a process that can take years in backlogged federal immigration courts.
CBP One was still operating on Thursday and there has been no notice from the U.S. government of any impending change.
Still, migrants stuck in Mexico fear time is running out on them.
“That is the fear that all those of us waiting for an appointment have: That (Trump) will do away with it,” said Elmer Acevedo, a Honduran migrant. He hopes he will get an appointment before Trump takes office. “All we can do is wait, hope there are no changes until January because he may cancel it.”
In the past, CBP has urged migrants not to rely on word-of-mouth advice or information regarding U.S. policies. They recommend looking for official information in government web sites or from government officials. Above all, they don’t want the migrants to turn to smugglers or trust what they tell them.
El Paso advocacy organizations also encourage migrants to seek qualified legal immigration advice. That goes for those who entered the country in the past few years and those who’ve been in the U.S. for decades and have American-born children.
Gonzalez and Rodriguez said they are aware their American dream might be fleeting under Trump.
Rodriguez said she and her family will look to a third country for refuge if that happens, but there is no way they are going back to the gangs, government corruption and economic chaos in Venezuela.
Gonzalez pleads for Trump to at least give her family a chance to save some money to either return to Peru without re-living the nightmare of a land trip through Mexico and Central America, or like Rodriguez, seek refuge in another country.
“If things go wrong […] we will go to another country that will take us in. We are not looking for economic assistance, we are coming to work, to earn money,” Gonzalez said. “We cannot stay in Mexico. It is too dangerous.”