MEXICO CITY (appro).– Several days had passed since Mercedes Pérez handed over the money. She paid $55 per person to have 14 of her family members processed for asylum in the United States.
Like her, hundreds of migrants also waited for Jaime Díaz Márquez to answer their calls and messages.
He had promised them that they would spend Christmas 2022 on the other side of the border, in the United States, but one day without further explanation he disappeared.
More than 200 migrants accuse Jaime Díaz Márquez, originally from Michoacán, of having deceived them, posing as an employee of a US civil-religious organization.
To convince them, Díaz Márquez told them that the “Grupo Asilo” association was in charge of processing asylum in the American Union for people from any country, that the process was free, except for $55 for paperwork and copies of each one.
More than 200 victims due to lack of information
Tell me the truth, is it a fraud or not? Is it a lie?!” questioned Mercedes Pérez, in the last call that she answered on December 19, 2022.
You are going to hit the stone in your mouth when you see that it is true, ”Jaime replied in that last call.
Four months earlier, Mercedes had deposited $770 to a PayPal account in her name.
But she was not the only one, almost 200 other families paid approximately 11 thousand dollars. Jaime deleted the publications and Live programs that she made through Facebook, restricted the comments and practically disappeared from the face of the earth.
Word of mouth, no information
It was in August 2022 when Mercedes learned of the existence of Jaime Díaz. One day his comadre told Mercedes that she had found a civil organization that was going to process asylum for her family, which was free and trustworthy.
He gave Mercedes the phone number of the contact, a certain Jaime Díaz, who also made live broadcasts from his social networks.
Mercedes wasted no time and called him that same day, asking if they could process asylum for people residing in Honduras, and Jaime Díaz answered yes.
“At first it seemed unreal but when he said that 10 (people) had already left, I believed him,” Mercedes explains in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, California, where she lives with her husband and children.
money and lost dreams
Mercedes did not think about it and paid, but the weeks passed and the anguish arrived. Hundreds of messages and calls piled up with no response.
He responded through Facebook Live broadcasts, in which he responded to all the claims.
“They are going to let you know when they are going to go to the embassy to pick up a piece of paper… that piece of paper is for you fffssshiiiiuuuu”, he told them while raising his hand as if simulating a plane taking off during a broadcast.
“We are going to call you… December 9 (2022) so that you no longer ask me, okay?… that day you are going to run to buy your tickets… don’t believe gossip… you grab your suitcases and go to the United States to see to his family and spend Christmas”, he insisted.
The date arrived and neither the embassies attended to the migrants, nor did Jaime respond to them again.
One day before the New Year, on December 30, Jennifer Cuevas decided to publicly denounce it through her Facebook profile.
“This man is called Jaime Diaz, originally from Ruana Michoacán, he is dedicated to defrauding people from all over, Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, wherever they are found…”, reads the publication that reached 277 shares and 49 comments, including others victims who with that text identified her photograph and who, like her, had charged them money to process them for US asylum.
From that post, hundreds of victims began contacting each other to share information. Together they created a WhatsApp group to communicate and send details and evidence of the fraud.
To the Other Side, the way to denounce
Mercedes, in addition to maintaining contact with other victims, reported the fraud to the civil organization Al Otro Lado, where she was directed to file a complaint with the Public Ministry, but she gave up.
“We were all afraid of Don Jaime, one did not know who Don Jaime was, he said that he had a lot of power with the Americans and lawyers… my husband told me that I had better not go there,” laments Mercedes.
Soraya Vazquez, deputy director of Al Otro Lado, explains that Mercedes Pérez’s report has not been the only one. They are different types of deceptions that are rarely denounced by those affected for fear of being deported when they are foreigners or hindering their entry into the United States.
For this investigation, an attempt was made to locate Jaime Díaz Márquez through calls and WhatsApp messages, but no response was obtained.
This reporting was produced with support from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) “Disarming disinformation” program, a three-year global effort with primary funding from the Scripps Howard Fund.
