At some point earlier than Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as president, Maray Rojas already knew that her future was not in the USA. On Sunday, January 19, the 49-year-old Cuban girl made a really unusual transfer, given her immigration standing: she crossed the bridge that connects Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, however from north to south. This was in the other way being taken by the vast majority of migrants.
Whereas hundreds of undocumented people were rushing to cross the border earlier than the Republican took workplace, Rojas returned together with her suitcase to Mexico. There, she had a job. Her marriage was additionally registered in Mexico. She was solely lacking one factor: her husband, Yoan Vicente Pichardo.
They’d each crossed into the USA collectively, by way of the CBP One asylum program. Nevertheless, he had been detained by the U.S. border patrol. The authorities then refused to return him to Mexico, although he had everlasting resident standing there. On January 25, on Trump’s first deportation flights, Yoan was taken again to Cuba in handcuffs.
It was 2016 when Yoan, a carpenter by career, determined to depart Cuba. He was 40 on the time. His journey ended within the state of Tabasco, in southern Mexico, the place he stayed to work. He managed to ascertain himself and ship cash to Maray. He even obtained everlasting residency standing in Mexico. Along with his papers so as, he crossed the nation to Ciudad Juárez. Then, he crossed into the USA and commenced a course of underneath the Cuban Adjustment Act, a process that enables some Cubans to acquire everlasting residency. However the U.S. didn’t develop into what he anticipated, so he determined to return to Mexico. He stayed in Ciudad Juárez and despatched for Maray, in order that they may reside collectively alongside the border. In April of 2023, she arrived in Juárez, the place they obtained married and began a life. Yoan labored in a carpentry workshop and Maray in a crafts retailer.
Time handed. And Maray had a thorn in her aspect: she was far-off from her two daughters, who reside in Florida. It was the will to be near them that led the couple to request asylum by way of the CBP One program. They obtained their appointment on November 13, 2024. However after crossing into El Paso by way of the Paso del Norte worldwide bridge, they had been instantly separated. Since then, they haven’t seen one another. Maray was launched the identical afternoon within the border metropolis, however Yoan was detained and despatched to a detention center in Otero County, New Mexico. Apparently, he needed to undergo an immigration course of that was nonetheless open since his earlier entry.
Maray then settled for 2 months in Santa Teresa, on the New Mexico border with Texas, very near El Paso and Juárez. “I don’t know, the individuals who say that it’s the nation of freedom… what freedom [are they talking about]? There, the phrase you hear consistently is ‘deportation, deportation, deportation.’ [In the U.S.], immigrants are all the time in limbo,” Maray tells EL PAÍS, whereas sitting in the lounge of her home in downtown Juárez. “I additionally don’t perceive why they name it ‘the American dream.’ Properly, I suppose since you go to mattress sleepy and also you get up sleepy, as a result of you need to work two or three jobs to outlive. There, they cost you even for a smile,” the lady scoffs.
For greater than two months, regardless of how exhausting they tried, they had been unable to get the U.S. immigration authorities to launch Yoan. He insisted that they ship him to Juárez — as a result of that was the place he lived — however they refused.
“I couldn’t reside like that. The USA is a rustic the place you stroll round and also you’re afraid that they’re going to arrest you,” Maray sighs. She compares it to her life in Ciudad Juárez, one of the vital harmful cities in Mexico: “I’ve by no means had an issue right here and I can stroll round freely. Right here, it’s like being in Cuba, with the door to my home extensive open. [In the U.S.], it’s a rustic of closed doorways.” On January 19, Maray didn’t wait any longer and crossed the border, heading again to her home: “As soon as I crossed the bridge, after I was in Mexico, I felt like I’d been born once more.”
On January 20, she spoke to Yoan on the telephone. He advised her that he was requesting his voluntary departure to Mexico. However on Tuesday, January 21, he was despatched to a detention heart in Louisiana. From there, he was despatched to Miami. On January 25 — after a number of days with no communication — Yoan arrived in Cuba. Along with his arms and ft shackled, he obtained off a aircraft that was filled with repatriated individuals.
For Pablo Zúñiga — a lawyer on the group Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción (DHIA), translated as “Integral Human Rights in Motion” — the separation of this household is a really uncommon case, however one that may be repeated or prolonged, on account of Mexico’s place of not receiving individuals of different nationalities. “We’ve even discovered that the asylum utility processes earlier than [Mexico’s] Nationwide Migration Institute are [not resulting in visas being issued], which might enable individuals to work and transfer across the nation whereas they wait for his or her course of to acquire residency to be resolved,” Zúñiga notes.
Now, Yoan is in Cuba, ready for a passport to have the ability to go away the island and return to Mexico, the place he maintains his residency standing. The couple has calculated that they want between 80,000 and 100,000 Mexican pesos (between $4,000 and $5,000) to carry him again into the nation. Each husband and spouse had been born in Camagüey, however Yoan not has household in Cuba. He’s staying with one in every of Maray’s sisters, whereas she works to save lots of up cash for his return.
Earlier than migrating, Maray labored for nearly 20 years within the Cuban sugar business, testing the sugarcane that was set to be processed. For a fortnight of labor, she acquired solely 250 Cuban pesos, or somewhat greater than $10 at present. At present, a field of eggs in Cuba prices round 3,000 pesos.
“We [were able] to eat [thanks to] the household we had outdoors the nation, however there are not any important foodstuffs [on the island] and there’s no method of acquiring it by working in Cuba,” she laments. These are the struggles that Yoan now has to undergo: he’s unable to discover a job that might assist him save up cash to return to his spouse. His associate notes that the carpenter feels “determined” and “annoyed.”
In Mexico, Maray is ready for him. The door to her residence is open, in order that the solar and the air can are available in. “I’m not transferring from right here,” she vows. “Not anymore.”
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