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“Devastated. I’m destroyed”- asylum seekers trapped by Biden’s Title 42 policy wonder what comes next
Trump era migration rules are back, effectively ending asylum claims at the border, and leaving 10’s of thousands stranded
“Devastated. I’m destroyed. I spent every penny I have getting here,” said Alex, who asked his last name not be published due to irregular migration status in Mexico. Alex left Venezuela in September, and after a grueling, weeks-long journey by land, which included the infamous and deadly jungle trails of the Darien Gap, he crossed the Guatemalan-Mexican border informally on Oct 9.
“A friend and I turned ourselves into Mexican migration,” in Chiapas, he said. “We were sent to what they called a migrant shelter run by Mexican officials. But it wasn’t a shelter at all. It was a prison.”
Alex described horrific conditions in the detention center. His cell phone was taken away and he shared a room with a dozen other migrants, who passed the days without running water and slept by night on the dirt floor.
For three days, without communication with the outside world, Alex waited to be processed by Mexican migration officials. On Oct 12, he was issued a deportation order by Mexican officials, and told to…
