New crisis brewing for Venezuelans turned back at US border

New deal allowing US to send Venezuelan asylum seekers back to Mexico at southern border sows confusion and frustration.

Mexico City — Dozens of migrants and asylum seekers sit on a cold and rainy street outside the offices of the National Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR). Most of them were deported from the United States to Mexico just a few days ago.

Almost everyone here is from Venezuela, and many are women with young children. Migrant and refugee shelters in the area are full, so they have been sleeping outside for the past few nights.

Luis Conde, who at 43 is one of the older men in the group, says most of the people here crossed the border from Mexico into the US earlier this month and turned themselves in to immigration officials, expecting to begin the process of requesting asylum — like other Venezuelan asylum seekers have been doing in recent months.

Instead, they were detained by US border agents and returned to Mexico. Luis says the agents cited the policy known as “Title 42”, which enables US immigration authorities to expel migrants and asylum seekers to Mexico under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s worth mentioning that all of us here have been vaccinated,” says Luis, still wearing the blue sweatpants given to him by US border agents. “I really don’t understand the situation; we were told our immigration process was being finalised in Laredo [Texas], but that was not the case.”

Another Venezuelan emigre approaches me outside the refugee assistance offices. His name is Jonathan. He is tall and brawny. He says he was a professional bodyguard back in Venezuela and was hoping to find work in the US before he was deported to Mexico.

Jonathan tells me he was part of the first group of Venezuelan nationals sent to Mexico from the US under a new change in policy.

“Nobody understood what was going on,” says Jonathan, as he recalls the moments before US border agents sent him back to Mexico. “They put handcuffs on us, the kind that go from your hands to your feet.

“It wasn’t until we exited the aeroplane that we understood what was happening.”

Uncertainty widespread
There is a look of uncertainty and frustration on everyone’s face outside the COMAR office, as more migrants and asylum seekers continue to trickle into the area, all of them seeking guidance from Mexican authorities.