Latinos trying to escape crisis enter US without visa – News

The economic crisis, driven by the Govt-19 epidemic, has increased the irregular flow of Latin Americans to the United States. The risks of traveling through the Mexican desert and hiring the services of intermediaries, however, often end up far from the American dream frontier.

“Irregular migration is a very lucrative business for criminal gangs and a lucrative business for organized crime,” explains Arthur Murtha, a professor of international relations at PUC-SP and an expert in Latin America.

Individuals leaving their home country to enter the U.S. border illegally face many dangers. The PUC professor emphasizes that reports of abductions of victims and coyotes hired to cross the desert are not uncommon.

“The biggest threats to these displacements are not natural threats, but the way organized crime is structured at this crossroads for the United States.

Entering the United States via Rio Grande, the country’s natural border with Mexico, is one of the major problems at the crossroads. In the extension, U.S. patrols work to disperse groups of immigrants, and in the process, many are lost in the desert.

Was close to this region Brazilian Lenilda dose Santos, 49, died September, south of Deming, New Mexico. Border agents said he was abandoned without water and food by a group that was bringing in illegal immigrants. Situations like this are no exception, and when they do not end in tragedy they can result in the process of deportation to Brazil.

Brazilian immigrants

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From October 2020 to August this year, 46,410 Brazilians attempted to enter the country illegally, according to the US Customs and Border Protection. This is six times the number of detainees from October 2019 to September 2020, when 7,161 Brazilians were detained.

Previously, the peak was in 2019, during which time about 18,000 people moved from Brazil to the United States. While this number is obvious, Brazilians are the sixth most nationally detained national race when attempting to enter North America illegally.

“As far as Brazil is concerned, in the early 1990s and early 2000s, when the country was not in good economic condition and Brazil recovered, we talked a lot about these migrations.”

“Currently, the biggest issue we need to think about this increase in the number of people leaving Brazil is the lack of economic perspective. It is very sad if we think that the profile of this Brazilian immigrant is young. We are talking about working age people, who will be part of the workforce in the country.

According to the expert, the devaluation of the Brazilian currency against the dollar brings to immigrants the expectation that if they are paid in dollars, they can improve their lives and help their families who stay here.

Roads to America

In addition to the dangerous and well-explored routes along the southern border of the United States, some take risks to enter the country through alternative routes.

Some immigrants arrive by plane in the Bahamas and then travel by boat to the state of Florida. Another way is to get a visa to enter Canada and cross the border on foot.

“We don’t hear much about these routes because they are more complex and more expensive. In the case of Canada, the visa is granted as soon as you obtain a visa to the United States. Many Brazilians in Canada do not cross the border due to the lack of this document, which does not even allow entry by land, only by air.

“For the Bahamas, the plane is not cheap, and the nets for crossing by boat are too complicated,” Murtaza explains.

“For Mexico, there are hundreds of ways, it is a very structured and cheap network. If you think he is a Brazilian trying to go to the United States even in an irregular way, he has little capital. On the other hand, the Central American is often a person who leaves home, and even without documents, it is frustrating Migration.

Migration crisis

The process of irregular migration, which leads to many risks, involves the frustration of those facing a difficult economic situation. “People have no perspective, no horizon for economic progress, so for many, the first option is to relocate.

In September this year, there were 49 immigrants, including Brazilians Found inside a truck Trying to cross the border from Mexico to the state of Texas.

Central America recorded a historic landmark immigration with 147,000 undocumented immigrants found in Mexico between January and August this year, more than tripled by 2020. Also, in July alone, 212,000 people were registered at the U.S. border and border at the U.S. border with Mexico. Security Company.

On another occasion in the great echo of the current migration crisis of the Joe Biden government, more than 30,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, Camped under the flyover on the Mexico border near the state of Texas, In the absence of basic services. To prevent them from entering the country, US officials used horses and whips to disperse the crowd, which was strongly criticized by the international community.

Trump and Biden governments

“Another thing that needs to be taken into account in the current process of this relocation was the expectation that Joe Biden’s administration would ease some of the relocation issues,” Professor Murtha explains, referring to the Donald Trump government as one of many obstacles. Associated with the arrival of foreigners.

During the Republican government known for its “zero tolerance” policy on the U.S.-Mexico border, thousands of children who crossed the border irregularly were separated from their parents.

Moreover, building a wall on the country’s southern border is Trump’s biggest election promise. The operation was partially accomplished with the construction of an approximately 640 km barrier.

In the midst of the migration crisis that threatens its popularity, Joe Biden has pledged to invest in southern Mexico and North Central America against forced migration.. According to him, the United States has given more than $ 600 million, equivalent to $ 3.3 billion in international aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Biden said he had asked Congress for $ 861 million and about R $ 4.7 billion in the 2022 budget for Central America.

However, according to Murtaza, “What we see in the Biden administration is a continuation of what was in the Trump administration, including many deportations.” More than 7,500 Haitian immigrants were deported from the United States in three weeks, according to the IOM (International Organization for Migration).