rolando herrera
Reform Agency
Sunday, May 14, 2023 | 4:43 p.m.
matamoros.- The frying pan is still smoking and Gregoris Amarista, a 36-year-old Venezuelan, describes in good humor the preparation of “perico”, which is nothing more than Mexican-style eggs.
“It consists of frying the seasonings, throwing the eggs and that’s it, stir a little and wait for it to dry and that’s it, serve,” he says, at a point on the border where everyone is waiting, after the migrant journey to reach the United States.
Despite the fact that breakfast is already ready, no one approaches the table, made up of a long plank where there are other empty pans, sugar, jugs and some glasses.
The table and the stove are in the open air, a few meters from the Rio Grande and in full view of the Border Patrol agents who, on the other side of the tributary, look to the south at the makeshift camp where hundreds of migrants, most of them Venezuelans, have installed.
Amarista’s good nature is due to the fact that yesterday, two months after arriving in Mexico, she managed to get her appointment processed through the CBP One application to be able to legally enter the United States. It is the tool with which the United States Government hopes to bring order to the entry of migrants.
“I traveled with my family, around eight, and they already crossed and I stayed. They crossed the river, but I stayed. In other words, I decided to make my appointment and I already got it,” explains the Venezuelan.
Amarista, who has survived thanks to money remittances sent to her by an acquaintance who already works in the United States, says that there has been a lot of confusion due to the change in immigration policy, because last Friday Title 42 stopped working and entered into Title 8 is in force, which provides for tougher penalties, but also opens up more avenues for regular admission.
“People have not known how they were going to react to the incidents and, well, in the same way the days have passed and the doubts that have arisen regarding the application have been clarified, what the new format was going to be like, the new programming , the new steps to follow”, he points out.
Almost from where the Brownsville-Matamoros border crossing is, a thin line of tents and rubber roofs stretches for several kilometers that border the Rio Grande and have served as a refuge for migrants who have arrived at this Tamaulipas border with the intention to set foot on American soil.
Some, like José Castro, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, arrived at the camp after having been in a shelter. The migrant left so that the new arrivals could rest from the long journey through South America, Central America and Mexico.
“We come through the Darién, we come through the jungle, for all that. We come from Colombia here, a very bad journey. The Darién is dangerous, yes sir. We are in the refuge here, in San Juan, we stayed for two days and from there they took us out so that the other people could also spend a while,” he says.
It seems that the measures adopted by the United States, which deployed thousands of agents along the border and reinforced the crossing points with the highest incidence with barbed wire, have deterred the majority of migrants, who these days have not sought to cross swimming the river
“They are not letting anyone in. I’m going to wait because I already registered on the page to see if they ask me to enter legally,” says Claver, a young Venezuelan who seeks to reunite with his mother in Texas.
After the journey made, thousands of kilometers from the place where he was born, Claver says that now he only has to wait, the same as the rest of his countrymen who along the banks of the Rio Grande kill time as they can.
