Texas law and CBP One discourage migrants from “jumping into the river” at the US border.

The shadow of the Texas deportation law SB4 and the possibility of obtaining an appointment through the CBP One app to request asylum have reduced immigration chaos on the southern border of the United States with Mexico, despite complaints of “invasion” from the opposition Republican.

“Many are waiting or already have a CBP One appointment and are going to enter the United States through the bridge“, explains this Friday Isabel Turcios, the sister who runs the Migrant House in the Piedras Negras border (Mexico).

That is the case of Nancy (Colombia), Fernando and Juan (Honduras), who boarded a flight to northern Mexico with the sole objective of requesting an appointment for immigration asylum with the United States Customs and Border Protection app ( CBP) to be processed orderly in Eagle Pass (Texas).

Undocumented by appointment

The three will enter the United States before the end of the month thanks to that appointment, which allows them to review their application for immigration asylum from US soil.

“The application only allows you to request an appointment once in the north of Mexico, so we have to make the journey without knowing what awaits us”says Yoslandi Fuentes, father of a Cuban family who a few days ago missed his CBP One appointment to enter the United States by 20 minutes and now faces months of waiting in Piedras Negras.

The journey of the Fuentes family, father, mother and a 16-year-old daughter, began eight months ago in Nicaragua and passed through the Mexican state of Chiapas and Mexico City, where they had to look for jobs to continue paying for their tickets and the approval of coyotes. , cartels and police.

A CBP One appointment gave them 20 days to reach the Eagle Pass border post, but the family fell victim to extortion, checkpoints, bribes and delays, and lost their right to enter the United States for 20 minutes.

“Although there are people who help you, there are others who want to harm the immigrant with deception and the desire for you to fail,” explains Gabriela, who is excited at the thought of being able to enter the United States and one day study at a high school.

In the background, the Ministry of Health of the state of Coahuila (Mexico) fumigates because a five-month pregnant Venezuelan woman has had to be hospitalized with malaria, while a Chinese immigrant walks meditatively and a group of Haitian women intersperse comments through which he escapes from followed by the Creole word “Etazini” (United States).

Venezuelan Daniel Arráez has been waiting for an appointment with CBP One for six months, has crossed the Darién jungle in Panama and assures that he will cross Mexico “It’s like crossing seven dariens” and prefers to wait to face the barriers of spikes and blades placed by the Texas National Guard.

Those who lose hope of the appointment are “they throw into the river”, as Turcios explains. Some succeed and others, as happened a month ago, lose their entire family swept away by the waters.

“They are very afraid that the Texas National Guard will arrest them and return them to Mexico, because they are not Border Patrol and do not process them. A pollero takes them to less guarded areas and takes them by boat, but they no longer go 400 at a time like before.“, says Turcios

The shadow of SB4

The Texas governor, Republican Greg Abbott, wants the controversial Texas law SB4 to be applied at the border, which has been suspended due to the possible usurpation of federal power over immigration policy, and which criminalizes irregular crossing from Mexico and contemplates deportation of immigrants to the neighboring country, which has said it will not accept returns.

“The law is unconstitutional and racist“says Reverend Julio Vásquez, of the Eagle Pass Lutheran Church, a leader who has mobilized against SB4 and was part of a protest against Republican Donald Trump, when he visited the town three weeks ago.

“If someone like me who has black hair and brown skin forgets his wallet at home, he can be arrested for looking like an immigrant, even though he is a citizen. This law is a law against the entire border community”, points out the religious.

“The arrival of immigrants has been reduced by the United States’ negotiation with Mexico to not allow river crossings, not by the threat of SB4″, says Vásquez.

The possibility of treating undocumented immigrants has led migrant shelters to have to rethink how to approach their work if the law comes into force. “We have to understand what we may be facing,” says Valeria Wheeler, director of Mission Border Hope.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers from the spectacular military deployment of the National Guard under the bridge that connects the United States with Mexico, the remains of a morning of immigrant crossings are evident.

The fences placed in Texas have holes the size of people and the clothes, shoes, SIM cards and photocopied quotes in Creole and Spanish of those who did not want or could not wait and now can say that they arrived in the United States are still wet. .