As Piedras Negras facility prepares to close, fate of hundreds of migrants remains unclear
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/02/18/piedras-negras-eagle-pass-migrants-detained/A makeshift immigrant shelter on the Texas-Mexico border will close this week after hundreds of Central Americans housed there believed they could ask for asylum in the U.S. Now it's unclear if they'll get that chance.
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — They're the lucky ones — the hundreds of migrants who have moved out of the makeshift shelter in this town across the U.S.-Mexico border from Eagle Pass. But as Olvin Hernandez stood behind a fence that walled him off from the rest of the city, he realized he might face a different path.
Hernandez, 21, is among the hundreds whose fate remained unknown Monday after more than 1,000 Central American asylum-seekers were allowed to leave a former factory that’s been a temporary facility for the group since they arrived earlier this month. The facility, guarded by Mexican security forces, is scheduled to close this week after housing an estimated 1,600 Central America migrants who had hoped to seek asylum in the United States.
As armed state and federal police in riot gear stood watch, Hernandez said he was lied to.
“They said they were going to help us get to the bridge. That’s what [the Mexican officials] told us in Saltillo,†he said, referring to the capital of the Mexican state of Coahuila where he and hundreds of others boarded buses earlier this month. “They brought us here and from here we’re trapped. They didn’t explain why they denied [my visa]. They just did.â€
Hernandez fears he could be deported back to Nicaragua if he's not granted a visa. Some migrants have been given a yearlong, renewable visa that allows them to work and move freely through Mexico. Others have been given a temporary permit which they said is valid for up to 30 days but doesn't allow them to work. Migrants said those temporary permits were issued mainly to allow for more time to process their visa applications. Only a handful, about 12 a day, have been allowed to seek asylum in the United States, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
Mexican officials, including federal police and social workers, would not comment on what could happen to the migrants who don't receive visas, saying they lacked permission. The press has been denied entry to the shelter, but reporters have been allowed to talk to the migrants through the fencing.
The abandoned factory was converted into a makeshift shelter this month when the group of migrants came to this border town looking to escape violence in their native countries and seek refuge in the U.S. The facility has become just one of the latest flashpoints in the U.S. immigration debate. Last week, President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency on the southern border to fund his long-promised border wall. During his State of the Union speech earlier this month, the president invoked the caravan as a reason the country needed the barrier.
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