Millions of migrants have entered the United States in recent years. They face great risks along the journey, even death. Experts believe the problem must be addressed in migrant source countries, not just in the United States.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans entering the United States may be about to change now, as President Joe Biden’s administration offers them temporary legal status.
The Department of Homeland Security announced last month that it would grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to around 472,000 Venezuelans. This status makes it easier for them to obtain work permits.
They are refugees who fled Venezuela, because of the political turmoil in that country.
Asylum-seeking migrants from Venezuela cross the Rio Bravo river to surrender to US Border Patrol agents to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, US, near a Venezuelan migrant camp, seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico November 17, 2022. (REUTERS /Jose Luis Gonzalez )
One of them is Deisy Mori, who along with her family crossed the border illegally, surrendered to United States authorities, and applied for asylum.
“We left Venezuela for the same reasons as the majority of people, because of the Maduro regime, because of insecurity, because of all those events that led to the great exodus of immigrants,” he told an AP reporter.
Many Venezuelan immigrants have applied for asylum, but the process is slow and can take up to four years.
Migrant Mortality Risk
For migrants, the journey to the United States is a struggle with high stakes, even death. The Reuters news agency reported that in the 12 months to September, United States Immigration and Border Guard officials recorded the deaths of 60 migrants due to heat in the El Paso area alone, a figure that tripled from the previous period a year ago.
Daytime temperatures in August can reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.7 degrees Celsius, which is common throughout the summer around El Paso, and lasts for 44 days.
The officer told how when he found the bodies, which he said were examples of what could be found every day. The body he found appeared to have been at that location for at least more than a week. The body was in the bushes, which Medrano said, may have been because the migrants were trying to find a shady spot. The bodies were found about 3-5 miles from the nearest town.
“When these migrants come from countries with humid climates, like Honduras, Venezuela, or Colombia, and they enter the desert, they cannot adapt to the dry climate. And of course, when they were in the middle of the desert, they started to lose direction and couldn’t find a way out of the desert. “They sweat a lot, are very tired and experience heatstroke, or a drastically increased body temperature,” said Ramiro Riso, a firefighter in El Paso, Texas.
Need Regional Cooperation
America is reeling as the flow of immigrants reaches its highest numbers in history. But international funds are simply not available for humanitarian needs, a UN official said.
Ugochi Daniels, deputy director of operations for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that a larger, coordinated regional effort is needed for a long-term solution to the ongoing movement of vulnerable communities to the United States.
But another global crisis has drained global funds, Daniels said in an interview with the AP.
“Clearly, this is not a problem that can be solved by one country. This requires regional dialogue, and all countries on what we call a route, a route to the United States. “This requires all countries to sit down at one table and discuss how they will manage migration,” Daniels said.
The UN estimated that as of August this year, $55.2 billion in US funding was needed to address the worsening global crisis, but the agency had received only 71 percent of the required amount.
A growing number of countries, such as Panama and Costa Rica, are asking for international help to handle the flood of immigrants, although Daniels did not say who should meet that need.
The flood of migrants to the Mexico-United States border has grown larger in recent years. In recent days, thousands of people have been seen crossing and entering in Texas alone.
Orlando, a migrant from Ecuador, carries his four-year-old compatriot, Peter, as they navigate the Rio Grande river from Mexico to Eagle Pass, Texas, USA October 6, 2023. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
In the 2017 fiscal year, United States authorities intercepted migrants 310,531 times at the border, while in the first 11 months of the 2023 fiscal year, they recorded more than 1.8 interceptions.
“I hear some people talking about controlling migration, closing borders, and we know that’s not working. We know that people will always be able to find a way in, but it will bring more risks, and they will be more vulnerable. So, this is about how we manage migration,” added Daniels.
Lack of financial assistance is not a new problem, and has been particularly prominent in mass migration from Venezuela.
As more than 7.2 million people flee political and economic turmoil in South American countries, this mass migration has received only a very small amount of financial aid, compared to other global migration crises, such as the one in Syria.
Juan Papier, Deputy Americas Director for Human Rights Watch, said, “Even the international community’s response to the migration flow of Venezuelans to Colombia has been completely inadequate,” he said.
He also said what was needed was a bolder and more coordinated response to distribute the economic burden, and distribute places for migrants.
“And ensuring that there is a fair distribution, which takes into account their needs, while also taking into account the capacity of each country to respond to this migration flow,” added Papier.
Over the years, a number of countries receiving Venezuelan migrants, such as Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, have requested additional assistance.
Pressure from the United States on countries that allow migration flows and create new barriers has provided a temporary lull in the wave of migrant arrivals at the border.
However, this condition was followed by the emergence of a new wave of migrants, said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office for Latin America. Such policies have encouraged Venezuelan migrants to travel north via routes such as the Darien Gap, triggering a new flood of migration to the United States, Isacson said.
“The reality is, you probably can’t block it. Countries like Costa Rica or Panama simply cannot block it, and there is no route south in the Darien Gap for people who have given up hope and want to return to Venezuela.” (ns/lt/hour)