“Very scared”: Migrants are anxiously watching the US election, fearing that Trump will win

Nogales, Mexico – Migrants from all over the world, from Latin America to distant countries in Africa and Asia, come to the shelter in this city in northern Mexico hoping to enter the US and escape economic hardship and, in some cases, deadly danger.

“They tried to kill us,” said Rosa Benalcazar, a migrant living at the House of Mercy and All Nations, one of the largest immigration shelters on the Mexican side of the Arizona-Mexico border.

Benalcazar said he went to the US after gangs threatened to harm him and his family in Ecuador, which has seen its citizens flee amid violence and insecurity.

Like other migrants at the Nogales shelter, Benalcazar was trying to get time to enter America through the US government. phone app known as CBP One. Designed to prevent illegal border crossings, the Biden administration’s plan allows migrants in Mexico to request time to be processed at a legal point of entry. Waiting times, however, can stretch for months due to rarity great need.

“I had no luck,” Benalcazar said in Spanish, noting that he had been trying to get an appointment for CBP One every day for seven months straight.

Sister Lika Macias, director of the shelter, said many migrants feel that luck may be hard to come by, given the presidential election in the US.

“The politics of the United States,” affects “immigration policy” on the US-Mexico border, Macias said.

Vice President Harris did promised continuing the current Biden administration policies that severely limit asylum to those who cross the southern border without waiting for the appointment of CBP One. But former President Donald Trump has vowed to completely close the US-Mexico border, including ending the CBP One process and other programs that allow migrants to enter the country legally.

“There are many concerns”

On a recent morning, immigration attorney Alba Jaramillo sought to ease the confusion and anxiety among those in the area. The US election could go “either way” and there is no telling who will win, he told a group of migrants, mostly mothers with children.

Jaramillo urged migrants to be patient and avoid listening to rumors on social media about a sudden change in American policy.

“There’s a lot of concern about what’s going to happen,” said Jaramillo, director of the Immigration Law and Justice Network, an immigrant advocacy group. “They’re very scared. They think the asylum system is about to close.”

Jaramillo said he also urged immigrants to follow the legal process and avoid crossing the US border illegally with the help of smugglers. Crossing the Arizona desert, he said, is not only dangerous, and potentially deadly, but it will also take migrants from the safety of the high action by President Biden in June.

After Mr. Biden has put those broad limits on asylum, illegal border crossing, which had it went up to record levels late last year, it fell to a 4-year low. Although unauthorized crossings have remained at that low level for the past few months, American officials anxiety the results of the presidential election may disturb the calm.

Trump’s victory, some US officials believe, could prompt more migrants to try to cross the country illegally before he takes office in January. In addition to promising to close the CBP One application process, Trump has vowed to roll back his immigration policies, wage war on the border and oversee great work to chase in American history.

“It’s sad”

About half of the migrants in this shelter are children, according to Macias, the center’s director. While their parents eagerly await the results of the election, fearing dramatic changes in America’s border policy, the only focus is on children.

After all, kids have less to fear at the Nogales shelter, where they can learn English and math and enjoy outdoor activities like soccer and basketball, as well as occasional entertainment.

Still, parents like Areli Doral, a young mother from Guerrero, Mexico, are still worried about what might happen after the US election.

“Yes, I’m afraid,” Doral said in Spanish, as she held her two-year-old son, Edgar.

“If they close the application (CBP One), what will we do? We have been waiting for ten months,” he said. “It’s sad.”

Doral said returning to his hometown is not an option, he said it would be dangerous for his son.

“There is a lot of crime,” he said. “It’s hard where I come from.”