To be together, the wish of a migrant family on their first Christmas in the US

Estella, her husband and their children always speak in the plural. Together they made the decision to leave Venezuela, together they crossed the dangerous jungle of the Darien and together they will spend their first Christmas in USA.

Wrapped in gifted coats, scarves and gloves to protect herself from the inclement cold that is plaguing the border city of El Paso (Texas) these days, Estella (fictitious name to protect her identity) said she is happy to have arrived in the US. but she feels sad because she lacks the warmth of her home and the Venezuelan traditions.

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“We don’t have the things we like for Christmas: gifts, hallacas, ham bread and the rest of our family,” This 31-year-old woman, with straight black hair and dark eyes, told EFE.

She, her four children, her son-in-law and her husband are part of the hundreds of Venezuelans who have crossed irregularly into the US in recent weeks. Her eldest daughter, Wendy (also her real name) is seven months pregnant.

Title 42, a health regulation that allows authorities to quickly return people of certain nationalities, including Venezuela, to Mexico without the possibility of requesting asylum, has forced hundreds of migrants to risk entering the US through irregular passages. .

With city-run shelters turning away undocumented people and the collapse of shelters that accept everyone, hundreds of migrants, like Estella and her family, spent several nights sleeping outdoors in a winter storm. history that plagues the country.

Moved by solidarity, residents of El Paso came to distribute donations, including toys for children on Christmas Eve.

Kevin (not his real name), Estella’s youngest son, proudly showed his mother that he had a bag full of gifts: a cart, a Captain America costume and several stuffed animals.

“It is the Christmas that I have received the most things”, said the 12-year-old boy, whom his mom describes as an adventurer.

He and his brother Wilson (not his real name) were the ones who guided the rest of the family through the Darién, a jungle that divides Colombia and Panama, which has become one of the most dangerous crossings for migrants traveling by land to the United States. .UU.

One of the things that scared Kevin the most during his passage through the jungle were the snakes: “not so much because they were around, but because he didn’t have a weapon to kill them”.

The family of seven comes from a rural area in the western state of Portuguesa, where, Estella said, they are used to crossing rivers, unpaved roads and dealing with nature.

At times, they slowed down because Estella was helping other families who were also traveling with children, and this caused arguments with her children and her husband, who sometimes criticize her for thinking too much of others.

She stands firm: “It’s something we had to do. What you do from the heart you do not have to say that it delayed you.

Three days after leaving the jungle, the news reached them that the US would impose Title 42 on the Venezuelans, which prevented them from carrying out their initial plan: request asylum at the border. “We thought about everything we had been through, it was like opening a box and seeing something ugly inside”Estella recounted.

However, after hearing from acquaintances that there were other ways to enter the country, they decided to continue.

The encouragement to continue, Estella assured, came from thinking about everything they had been through and what they left behind: “He said, I am going to advance for them, for a better future, for all that we have experienced in crime, scarcity in Venezuela.”

The turbulent journey, they all said, brought them closer as a family.

“We came out more united, we have given ourselves more to God”explained Wendy, who in two months expects the birth of his daughter Salome. Like her brother Kevin, she also carries bags full of gifts, which will be for the little girl when she is born.

This Christmas, Estella wishes that they could stay together, in their new country and in the new place of their choice once they raise enough money to get out of El Paso, on the border with Mexico.

“I want us to be able to achieve our wishes, that we are not persecuted and that my granddaughter is born well”narrowed.

Source: EFE