Sister Maria Tello Claro, the director of Casa del Migrante, defined that the temper at her shelter has turned to unhappiness 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 reality, 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 not return to their international locations.”
She added that the US’s 90-day pause on overseas help spending has additionally restricted the shelter’s capability to handle the wants of migrants and asylum seekers.
Different nongovernmental organisations supply help to Casa del Migrante, however their budgets have dried up within the wake of the help freeze. Casa del Migrante has already misplaced considered one of its two volunteer counselling psychologists because of this.
Tello defined that she and her colleagues have had a number of conferences with different shelters to debate the right way to present help, however they’re uncertain what to do.
“We go day-to-day,” Tello mentioned.
Johanna Ovando, 31, is among the many asylum seekers stranded on the border. She fled El Salvador together with her husband, two youngsters and mom.
She feared her nation’s gangs would prey on her eldest son now that he has turned 10, a main 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 precise determination. In Mexico, she mentioned, her household has confronted discrimination, abuse and extortion.
“There’s intercourse trafficking, and one walks with the concern of persecution,” Ovando mentioned. Evaluating the state of affairs to El Salvador, she added, “It’s the similar 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 depart.
“We can not 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 into consideration,” Martino mentioned. “However calmly, with persistence and quite a lot of religion, we put all the pieces 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.”
