AZMEX I3 22-10-16

AZMEX I3 22 OCT 2016

Note: Still very curious why the 7,000 mile trip to AZ or CA borders?
When Miami, FL. is about 700 miles away, and Key West, FL is about 730 miles from Port Au Prince. (Haiti)
Merci


Haitian migrants arrive in Nogales, Sonora after months-long journey
By Kendal Blust
Nogales International Updated 16 hrs ago (0)

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/haitian-migrants-arrive-in-nogales-sonora-after-months-long-journey/article_859edb06-97ed-11e6-8166-8f727c352eca.html

Haitian migrants
Photo by Kendal Blust
As many as 65 migrants were camped out on the Mexican side of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry on Friday, waiting for a chance to enter the United States.
Haitian migrants
Photo by Kendal Blust
Paulo JeanLouis, from Haiti, arrived to the Mexican side of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry on Wednesday, where he has been waiting to enter the United States.
Haitian migrants
Photo by Kendal Blust
Belongings from the nearly 65 Haitian migrants waiting on the Mexican side of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry lined the wall on Friday morning.

A long row of backpacks and duffel bags brimming with quilts, clothes and the few other items belonging to of a group of about 65 Haitian migrants were piled along the wall separating incoming and outgoing border-crossers in Nogales, Sonora on Friday.

The would-be U.S. immigrants are part of a recent surge of Haitians who are seeking entry at the nation's southern border with Mexico.


The group Friday – all men – lined up outside the metal turnstile on the Sonoran side of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry. Like thousands of other Haitian migrants who have been showing up along Mexico's northern border in Tijuana and other parts of Baja California in recent of months, they have come mainly from Brazil, an approximately 7,000-mile trek over land and sea.


"We came on foot, and sometimes we swam," said Paulo Jean-Louis, who said the journey through South and Central America took him five months. Several others said they made the trip in about two-and-a-half months.

Like many of the men who have been camped out at port for nearly three days now, Jean-Louis said he had lived and worked in Brazil for more than five years before leaving for the United States.

After an earthquake devastated Haiti in 2010, many people fled the county, tens of thousands making their way to Brazil. But conditions in the South American nation have changed. Amid economic and political unrest, work has largely dried up, causing many Haitians to look north for better opportunities.

Sitting on bags or reclining on tattered blankets and thin blue mats, many of the Haitian men waiting outside the port don't want to leave, even to sleep at night, said Hilda Loureiro, who runs the Juan Bosco migrant shelter in Nogales, Sonora.

"We've had about 10 Haitians come here since the night before last," she said, adding that the few who came left first thing in the morning, worried they might miss their turn for an interview with a U.S. immigration officer.

The migrants are being processed "on a case-by-case basis" and those without legal status "are placed in removal proceedings according to their situation," according to a statement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in reference to the increasing number of Haitians arriving in Arizona.

During this fiscal year through Oct. 1, more than 5,000 Haitian immigrants have entered the United States without visas, up from 339 the year before, Reuters reported. Most of these immigrants have come through the ports from Tijuana and Mexicali and are asking for asylum.

Many of the Haitians who are trying to enter through ports in California have been waiting for weeks in Mexico, and so far the process for those in Arizona has also been slow. As of midday on Friday, some migrants who had been waiting south of the DeConcini port for more than two days had not had any interaction with U.S. officials and did not know what to expect or how long it would take.

"We can't enter like the others," said migrant Alex Givny, indicating to the line of border-crossers slowly filing past. "We have to wait for the police, for immigration to give us authorization to enter. But we have to wait right here."

Givny said that the line of men camped out in the tiled port passageway are trying to help their families, especially after the "catastrophe" two weeks ago when Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti, devastating the impoverished Caribbean nation and leaving many without access food or water.

"I have two children. My mom, my dad, brothers and sisters," he said. The most recent natural disaster has increased his desperation to send aid home.

The Haitian migrants waiting in Nogales, Sonora received permission to stay in Mexico for 25 days when they crossed the border from Guatemala earlier this month, but their time runs out next week, Givny said.

Sick and injured migrants are receiving treatment from the Red Cross and Grupos Beta, and the Kino Border Initiative, along with residents and businesses in Nogales, Sonora, are trying to help the waiting Haitians by bringing food, water, blankets and even clothes.

"They are humans just like us," said Sergio Urrea, who dropped off bags of fruit after hearing about the migrants during a Mass at his church. "Today it's them, but tomorrow it could be any of us."

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced on Oct. 4 that his previous decision to resume removals of Haitians in late September would be temporarily suspended in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. Until those removals resume, Haitians entering the country without authorization will be placed in immigration detention, he said.

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