Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 14 May 2019
Burgeoning numbers of Cubans trying to enter US via Mexico

By CEDAR ATTANASIO three weeks in Tapachula
ELLIOT SPAGAT for legal permission to stay
MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN in Mexico.
Associated Press The surge of Cubans has
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico been so big that Juarez
(AP) — Burgeoning num- restaurants have added
bers of Cubans are trying Cuban favorites like roast
to get into the U.S. by way suckling pig and black
of the Mexican border, beans with rice to their
creating a big backlog menus.
of people waiting on the Unlike Central Americans,
Mexican side for months for many of whom are fleeing
their chance to apply for are extreme poverty and
asylum. arrive with little more than
The surge over the past sev- the shirts on their backs,
eral months has been pro- many Cubans can afford a
pelled in part by loosened cheap hotel or rented room
travel restrictions in Central if migrant shelters don't
America and deteriorating have space, aided by rela-
living conditions in Cuba. tives in the U.S. They buy
As a result, about 4,500 asy- cellphones for their short
lum seekers, the vast major- time in Mexico, which they
ity of them Cuban, have use to check a Facebook
descended on Ciudad In this April 26, 2019, photo, Cubans wait their turn to enter Panama's embassy to apply for travel group that gives twice-dai-
Juarez, across from El Paso, visas to Panama, in Havana, Cuba. ly updates on the waiting
Texas — an influx that has Associated Press list. Cuban men can be dis-
raised tensions with some tinguished by their spotless
locals. ing asylum. them stay. ezuelan aid and the U.S. sneakers, track suits and
"It's a bottleneck with an For many years, Cubans For Cubans and others, hardening of the trade em- aviator sunglasses.
opening that is getting entering through the south- one of the biggest obsta- bargo against Cuba have Some Juarez residents are
smaller," said Enrique Va- ern border generally flew to cles is simply getting an op- created food shortages wary.
lenzuela, an official of South America and tried to portunity to apply for asy- and a sense of crisis on the Casa del Migrante, which
Mexico's Chihuahua state, come into the U.S. at Lar- lum. Over the last year, the island. Young people in houses up to 1,000 people
which manages Juarez's edo, Texas. But now many Trump administration has particular are lining up out- in its shelter, banned Cu-
waiting list. "People keep are using a relatively new sharply limited the number side any embassy that will bans earlier this year be-
coming." and shorter route: They fly of asylum claims it process- grant them a visa. cause they didn't mix well
For decades during the to Panama or Nicaragua, es at land crossings, forcing Friends told Yaneisi Hernan- with Central Americans
Cold War and beyond, pay smugglers to help them people to wait their turn in dez of Havana that Juarez and didn't follow the rules,
Cubans tried to reach the reach the U.S. border, and Mexico. was safer than other Tex- said manager Blanca Ri-
U.S. by air, land and sea, seek to come across at El At the current process- as crossings, that it had a vera.
many of them crossing the Paso. ing rate, the wait in Juarez strong network of charita- "They didn't like our food,"
90 miles to Florida in dan- In the seven-month period is now up to five months, ble groups and, most impor- she said. "You have to
gerously rickety boats and from October through April, compared with only a few tant, that the wait to claim make exceptions for them.
rafts. 4,737 Cubans without legal days as recently as Febru- asylum in the U.S. was com- They want rice, meat sand-
In January 2017, though, status entered the U.S. at ary. paratively short. After flying wiches, they want pizza.
the U.S. ended its "wet-foot, crossings in Customs and Panama became known in to Nicaragua and paying a ... That attitude is not wel-
dry-foot" policy of almost Border Protection's El Paso recent years as a relative- smuggler to reach the U.S. come in migrant shelters."
automatically admitting field office, compared ly easy source of visas for border by bus, taxi, on foot Some Cubans are also sour-
any Cuban who managed with 394 in the previous 12 Cubans who could make and on horseback, she was ing on Juarez.
to reach American soil. For months. Along the entire a convincing case that disappointed to find 3,500 About 10 Cubans pursuing
many Cubans, their best U.S.-Mexico border, 10,910 they only wanted to shop names ahead of hers. asylum gathered near a
option is going to the U.S.- Cubans came through offi- and return to sell goods in "I can't even think about phone charging bank one
Mexican border and claim- cial crossings between Oc- Cuba. Panama has a free working here because I Friday night at the El Paso
tober and April, versus 7,079 trade zone where Cubans might get deported," said airport to wait for a 6 a.m.
in the previous 12 months. splurge on everything from Hernandez, 39, after spend- flight to Miami. After flying
Migrants applying for asy- shampoo to air condition- ing her first night in Juarez to Panama and reaching
lum are often released into ers and electric motorbikes. sleeping with other Cubans Juarez in early February,
the U.S. while their cases Also, in October, Panama on a patch of grass out- Arnoldo Garcia, a Havana
make their way through began issuing $20 tourist side the government office electrician, said he waited
immigration courts, which cards to Cuban business where asylum seekers are only two days to claim asy-
can take years. But for Cu- people and certain others, assigned numbers while lum in El Paso.
bans, it's easier to settle in replacing a longer, more they wait. After about two months in
the United States than for difficult process that often Cubans arriving in Juarez U.S. detention, Garcia, 47,
others. ended in rejection. last month said they paid was released with an ap-
Communist Cuba refuses In January, Nicaragua smugglers about $2,000 to pointment slip for immigra-
to fully cooperate with the made it faster and easier reach the U.S. border, plus tion officials in Miami. He
U.S. on deportations, mean- for Cubans to obtain a visa $150 to $400 in the southern said he wouldn't recom-
ing that if the migrants lose in Havana by eliminating Mexico border city of Tapa- mend Juarez to anyone
their asylum cases, Cuba the requirement that ap- chula for a lawyer to obtain contemplating the journey.
generally doesn't take plications be approved in a court order allowing them "There are too many peo-
them back. The U.S. then Nicaragua's capital. to travel legally through ple," he said. "It's become
has little choice but to let Meanwhile, a drop in Ven- Mexico. They waited about a lot more complicated."q