“USA it is a global superpower that is riding high on everyone in an impressive way. It terrifies me,” ‘Felipe’ told the BBC. Along with his younger brother, wife and children, the Colombian civilian headed for the border with Mexico on April 30. Threats from local criminals from the Coffee Region (Caldas , Risaralda and Quindío) prompted him to devise a plan: enter as tourists to cancun and reach the climax in Juarez City. They had to travel 3,425 kilometers, approximately 40 hours.
Once in Juárez, they came to a highway to cross. A nauseating smell of sewage filled the scene. They had to run to evade the border patrol. ‘Felipe’ speeded up the pace with the youngest of his descendants in his arms. The brother carried the only suitcase and his wife jogged with her 10-year-old son. The clothes ended up wet. Pants and shoes were removed.
In front of them, “totally unknown terrain.” They did not know what to do. They approached a soldier, commenting on his nationality and the intention to turn himself in for “fleeing violence.” The cash pointed them to a cleared path. It was gate 40, about 6 kilometers. The clock struck 7:00 p.m.
They reached the camp after three hours, without eating or drinking. They were consigned as family number 48. We had to wait.
In that time, they heard terrifying stories. Children abandoned by their parents, long family waits, the imminent kidnapping of a drug cartel.
Two hours passed and the patrol arrived at the collection to exclusively transfer the families. ‘Felipe’ despaired. He had to leave his younger brother. He couldn’t help it. This is the faithful account that he made to the BBC about the moment: “Getting rid of him was very impressive for me. I cried, because he was the younger brother, the one we had never let out of the house, the one we always tried to protect. We got on the patrol car and I never heard from him again. my brother. That was the most impressive anguish.”
Inside the car, they pushed regardless of the integrity of the infants. Once in the detention center, about 10 minutes from the border, a woman yelled at ‘Felipe’s’ blood relatives: “‘Take off your shoelaces, take off your belts, I don’t want to see any of that! No respond, I told you to, you’re so slow!'”
They were photographed and fingerprinted, but they were thrown away. identity cardsvital for the presentation before any embassy and humanitarian refuge requirement.
frivolous inhumane treatment
‘Felipe’ could not explain why they were later taken to an “extremely cold” bus. The only thing he can think of is that they forced a freeze on him. “There I lost track of time, we were exhausted and we fell deep into sleep. Only sudden movements woke us up,” he said.
In the “family jail”, they were made to “throw away their coat and socks, everything went to the trash”. They barely reserved jeans and t-shirts. Before sending them to shower and giving them oversized clothes, they went three or four hours without eating. “There you couldn’t stop because they yelled at you. If the children cried, they said ‘shut up your son!'” she commented.
The destratos continued with the unhealthy food. “Sometimes there was a sandwich with chicken and bologna and one would uncover it and the bread would look like sheets of mold, from deteriorated food and they would rather throw it away than a more dangerous disease,” said ‘Felipe’. On the third day of stay, the children were vomiting and had diarrhea. Her son could barely drink water and eat Lays potato chips.
Only through a sheet of the door, in a small window of view, ‘Felipe’ could register his children, but he could not speak to them or make energetic gestures. His wife told him that, on one occasion, the baby played with a box of juice and the officer on occasion reprimanded him: “Since he was little, they have been teaching him to steal.”
At 3:30 pm on Tuesday, May 9, the officers asked them to prepare to leave. The families were happy because they planned to reside in the United States. Still seized with faith, policemen burst in demanding their silence. They promised them that if they complied they would be taken to another shelter to be processed.
One of the 10 remaining families reported the farce. They were going to be deported to the country from which they had left. They were handcuffed and a chain was wrapped around their abdomens. They also put shackles on the feet. They boarded a plane like prisoners and only knew they were in Bogotá when they landed. ‘Felipe’ cried inconsolably upon hearing from a migration worker: “Welcome to Colombia, you are safe now.”
Source-larepublica.pe
The post “They wanted us to freeze”: Colombian family denounces mistreatment at the US border. appeared first on American Journal.
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