At the US-Mexican border, migrants give up hope of crossing

Issued on: 21/12/2019 - 02:48Modified: 21/12/2019 - 12:46  GMT/ZULU

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Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) 

by Renee Celeste and Biodun Iginla, France24

In a muddy makeshift camp in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, more than 1,000 migrants had waited for weeks for a chance to request asylum in the United States, enduring cold nights and long days of uncertainty.

Frustrated, many are giving up and clearing out.

Authorities say as of last week, there were still about 1,400 migrants, most of them from southwestern Mexico, holding out hope under tents and tarps in a park not far from the Rio Grande.

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But on Thursday, only about 700 remained. The others grew tired of the near-freezing temperatures at night and the seemingly fruitless quest to be heard by US officials.

Local associations convinced several families to head to shelters or hotels when the mercury started to plummet.

Some instead made their way across the river, without any idea if they would succeed.

And still others opted to remain -- they are afraid to lose their place on the murky wait list system they themselves created to convince US border agents to take them in order of their arrival.

"They won't let us proceed unless we hand them our slips to show them we have indeed been waiting," said Rosa, who keeps up the list on a daily basis.

Every night, the men and women at the camp keep watch on the comings and goings on the bridge crossing the Rio Grande -- the natural, international border -- to make sure new arrivals don't jump the queue.

- 'The cartels threatened us' -

According to a survey recently led by several universities in northern Mexico, 60 percent of those at the camp wait their turn in tents, but more than a quarter are sleeping in the open air.

Many migrants say they are fleeing violence in their hometowns.

"The cartels threatened us and took our land," said one man from Guerrero state.

"At first, they asked us for money," he explained. "But when we could no longer pay, they took our house. They gave us two weeks" to get out, he added.

Officials in Ciudad Juarez -- once known as the "murder capital of the world" -- are trying to be flexible about the influx of migrants.

"We understand that US authorities administratively can't process all of these requests," said Enrique Valenzuela, who works for a Chihuahua state agency tasked with local population issues.

"Most of these people are alleged victims in some way," he said.

"They say that they either have been threatened for some reason -- themselves or their families -- or they have either lost a loved one or a neighbor," he added.

"We cannot impede their entrance and it would be wrong for us to do so."

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Mexico deports 33 percent more migrants after deal with US

Date created : 03/07/2019 - 05H37  GMT/ZULU

Some of the 250 Central American migrants arrested during an operation in Veracruz, Mexico, are pictured in June 2019 AFP/File

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Mexico City 

by Renee Celeste and Biodun Iginla, France24

Mexico deported 33 percent more foreigners month-on-month in June, officials said Tuesday, after the country agreed to take "unprecedented" steps to reduce migration in order to avoid tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump.

The total number of deportations from Mexico in June was 21,912, up from 16,507 in May, according to preliminary figures from the Mexican migration authority.

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The upswing came after Trump threatened in May to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods if the country did not do more to slow the flow of Central American migrants crossing the US-Mexican border.

After a week of tense negotiations, the two sides announced a deal on June 7 under which Mexico agreed to send thousands of National Guardsmen to secure its borders and expand its policy of taking back asylum-seekers while the US processes their claims.

The deal appears to be delivering Trump's desired result: the number of migrants taken into custody at the US southern border is expected to drop by 25 percent for June, the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, said Friday.

Under the deal, Mexico has 45 days to show results.

Trump said Monday in Washington that Mexico is doing a "great job."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has sought to avoid confrontation with the Republican billionaire, welcomed the comment.

"I'm glad President Trump recognizes that we're making an effort to live up to our commitment to apply our laws and, without violating human rights, reduce the flow of migrants," he told a news conference.

Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist, took office in December promising to welcome migrants. But he has taken a more hardline turn under pressure from Trump.

In his first month in office, Mexico deported 5,717 foreigners -- down from 10,180 the month before.

However, deportations rose sharply after Trump renewed his threat to close the US-Mexican border.

In April -- the month after Trump made the threat -- deportations from Mexico rose 66 percent, to 14,940.

The United States has seen a surge in Central American asylum-seekers fleeing chronic poverty and brutal gang violence in recent months. In May, it apprehended 144,000 migrants at the border, up 32 percent from April and 278 percent from May 2018.

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Trump dismisses white nationalism threat after NZealand killings

March 16, 2019, 07H:11 GMT/ZULU

US President Donald Trump has been repeatedly accused of making comments that were at best insensitive and at worst racist when it comes to race relations and far-right movements AFP

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Washington 

by Melissa Gruz and Biodun Iginla, France24

US President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed concerns that the massacre by an apparent white supremacist in New Zealand indicates a dangerous trend.

Trump was asked if the killing of at least 49 people in two mosques in Christchurch by a man claiming that white people are being overwhelmed in their historic homelands demonstrates a rising problem around the world.

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"I don't really. I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"If you look what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that's the case. I don't know enough about it yet."

Although Trump referred to the bloodbath as "horrific" and "terrible," his comments downplaying the potentially wider threat were likely to face criticism. Trump has been repeatedly accused before of making comments that were at best insensitive and at worst racist when it comes to race relations and far-right movements.

The alleged gunman ?- identified as an Australian white nationalist -- apparently livestreamed the assault on social media and published a manifesto filled with racist conspiracy theories.

He also referred to Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose."

Asked if he'd seen the manifesto, Trump said: "I did not."

Earlier, he tweeted that he'd spoken with New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to express "solidarity" and to say, "We love you New Zealand!"

- 'Very fine people' -

In 2017, even many of Trump's closest supporters were reportedly appalled by his refusal to condemn a march by torch-bearing neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The march ended in violent clashes with leftist protesters and Trump appeared to spread the blame equally, even though the right-wing demonstrators had been chanting a Nazi-era slogan "blood and soil."

"You also had some very fine people on both sides," he said.

In December an American neo-Nazi was sentenced to life in prison for driving his car into a group of counter-protesters during the white supremacist rally, killing a woman.

Trump has also been accused of whipping up xenophobia with his long-running campaign to build more walls along the US-Mexican border, which he says is under "invasion" by illegal immigrants.

On Friday, he signed the first veto of his presidency to dismiss congressional pushback against his declaration of emergency powers to get billions of dollars in wall funding.

- Farther and farther right -

Trump has repeatedly denied racist tendencies and often touts his work in improving economic conditions among the country's racial minorities.

However, the right of his party, which includes his most reliable political base, increasingly flirts openly with white nationalism and wild conspiracy theories.

Rush Limbaugh, the popular right-wing radio host, said Friday that the New Zealand bloodbath may even have been what conspiracy theorists call a "false flag" designed to discredit Trump.

"There's an ongoing theory that the shooter himself may in fact be a leftist who writes the manifesto and then goes out and performs the deed purposely to smear his political enemies, knowing he's going to get shot in the process," Limbaugh said.

Brian Levin, director at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said, however, that the problem could not be more real.

"White nationalism and far right extremism is the most prominent extremist threat facing the United States today, and indeed it is a worldwide phenomenon," he said.