At least 300 Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants are stranded in an emergency shelter in the border town of Hermosillo, Sonora, waiting to find a “sponsor” in the United States to facilitate their legal emigration to that country.
The reception center was set up in the Ana Gabriela Guevara high school by staff from Attention to Migrant Groups, who assure that the undocumented migrants are “waiting to establish their legal status or to find a sponsorship that will allow them to identify themselves as political Residing Refugees in the United States”. , reported the Mexican newspaper El Imparcial.
However, the situation of many of them is precarious as they arrived with only a backpack after a long journey from Nicaragua and do not consider a return to the island possible, which is why activists and the local press have asked the people of Hermosillo for support for migrants.
Cuban Marcos Antonio Cuéllar González, a resident of Hermosillo who constantly brings essentials to the shelter, said as much to the press at the time these people who were stranded After the measures announced by President Joe Biden on January 5, “they need clothing, food and legal advice, especially because of their situation in Mexico”.
“Some of them have taken the initiative to work in what can guarantee them an income,” he explained.
Some migrants have been in Hermosillo since Jan. 6, when the US President said those crossing the border They would be deported immediately and could not apply for a humanitarian parole program that would grant up to 30,000 monthly visas to Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians combined.
However, in order to enroll in this immigration plan, each person must have a sponsor in the US applying for their arrival in the country and committing to their expenses.
Some migrants also say they are pinning their hopes on another program announced on January 19 that will allow groups of citizens sponsor political refugees from around the world to live in the United States
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the Welcome Corps enables Americans to “assist refugees directly.”
Dozens of Cubans have fled repression on the island, particularly after the July 11, 2021 protests. Despite government crackdown on the protests, the US has frozen the program for Cuban citizens on the island who want to emigrate to the United States for political reasons Persecution.
This Friday it turned out that in Ciudad Juárez, also on the border, there are more than 1,200 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela who were expelled after crossing the border after January 5th.