Venezuelan Migrants in Mexico Blindsided by U.S. Border Policy Shift

Thousands of Venezuelan migrants claim a sudden U.S. border policy shift left them with nowhere to go and without a country to go back to.

At the root of the issue is a recently implemented move between the U.S. government and Mexico where asylum seekers who enter the United States illegally are being turned back to Mexico. When U.S. authorities began implementing the policy change, about 60 migrants from Venezuela that were removed to the Mexican border city of Matamoros caused an international port of entry to shut down during a protest. Since then, some reports show the Biden administration returned more than 2,000 Venezuelan migrants to Mexico. Mexican officials claim the number is only 800. The migrants would initially be able to reach the U.S. and claim asylum. However, a policy shift now forces them to request asylum outside of the U.S. as part of a deal where Mexico agreed to take in removed Venezuelans.

The issue in Mexico became heated as those deported migrants became stuck in Mexico for a short term with nowhere to go and no accommodations. Mexico has been issuing visas and temporary permits, however, the number of migrants arriving each day surpassed their processing capacity causing a bottleneck in applications. Additionally, most of the migrants are currently living on the streets due to most shelters in Mexico being at capacity and the rising number of migrants entering Mexico each day.

Earlier this week, a group of nine Venezuelan migrants had to be rushed to a hospital in the rural areas of Chiapas when a smuggling vehicle crashed as a group of human smugglers tried to move them north. Authorities arrested three of the smugglers, however, it remains unclear if the injured migrants will be allowed to stay in Mexico or if they face deportation.

Breitbart Texas spoke with multiple migrants in Mexico City who claimed that they were being held against their will at a center with poor accommodations. Shelter officials would reportedly take their phones away. The group claimed that they feel betrayed by the U.S. government after having been told they could request asylum only to be turned away.

“We ask president Obrador to help give us answers and a light at the end of the tunnel,” one of the migrants said while standing outside of a shelter in Mexico City pleading to be allowed back to the U.S. “We are asking that those of us who were already detained and held for over 12 days in the U.S. to allow us to return and stay we only want to work, we don’t want free money or anything. We want to work.”

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Williams Cortez” from Baja California and “L.P. Contreras” from Mexico City.