Sister Maria Tello Claro, director of Casa del Migrantte, explained that the mood of her shelter has turned into sadness and anxiety since the inauguration of Trump.
The refuge, designed to accommodate 170 people, currently shelters 190 migrants mainly from Honduras, Venezuela, Salvador and Haiti.
Tello observed that many residents, including Martino and Alvarado, had been retained hostage at some point during their trips to the border.
“Here, it’s dangerous because they can be kidnapped. In fact, they are kidnapped,” said TeLlo.
But Tello explained that migrants and asylum seekers she knows have few options. “Where are they going to go?” Some of them cannot return to their country. »»
She added that the 90 -day American break on foreign aid expenses also limited the capacity of the refuge to meet the needs of migrants and asylum seekers.
Other non -governmental organizations provide support to Casa del Migrantte, but their budgets have dried up as a result of the help freezing. Casa del Migrantte has already lost one of his two voluntary advice psychologists accordingly.
Tello explained that she and her colleagues had several meetings with other shelters to discuss the way of providing support, but they don’t know what to do.
“We are going day after day,” said TeLlo.
Johanna Ovando, 31, is one of the asylum seekers blocked on the border. She fled El Salvador with her husband, two children and mother.
She feared that the gangs of her country would attack her eldest son now that he was 10 years old, a maximum age for recruitment.
The government of El Salvador responded to the violence of the gangs by imposing an iron security repression, causing generalized human rights violations. This only increased the risks of stay.
But now that Ovando and his family have been stuck on the American-mexic border, she wonders if she has made the right decision. In Mexico, she said, her family was faced with discrimination, abuse and extortion.
“There is sex trafficking and we walk with the fear of persecution,” said Ovando. By comparing the situation to El Salvador, she added: “It’s the same thing there, but it’s our country.”
Ovando plans to stay one more month in a refuge in Matamoros. If the asylum process does not resume, she and her family will leave.
“We cannot stay here,” said Ovando. “It’s very unsure.”
For Martino, however, return is not an option. He believes that after all, he survived, would mean a defeat.
“Patience is exhausted, hope ends and many things must be taken into account,” said Martino. “But calmly, with patience and a lot of faith, we put everything in the hands of God.”
But he recognized that his fate was also in the hands of the American president, and he hopes an indication of what his future has: “Donald Trump must also give answers.”
