Asylum seekers from as far as China and Africa wait for hours daily at this desolate spot near the Cocopah Indian Reservation and Somerton, Ariz.
The yip-howls of coyotes cut through the night as an almost full moon sets to the west, where only I-beam barricades stand silently, marking the U.S. border with Mexico through this largely agricultural section of the Sonoran Desert.
At night, when most migrants make the crossing, a cold wind whips through this desolate strip of desert straddling the border on Cocopah Indian Tribe land. Here, there is no tall metal fence to stop anyone from entering the United States. Migrants walk into the country freely. But Title 42 has stayed in place even as the pandemic has receded, effectively blocking asylum seekers and other migrants from legally entering the United States, and allowing border officials to immediately expel them to Mexico regardless of their nationality. The anticipated lifting of the order has provided a glimmer of hope to those seeking refuge from a ruined economy in Venezuela, bloodshed in Nigeria or state repression in China.
Toluwase Oladele Thomas of Nigeria entered the U.S. at Somerton, Ariz., with friends. “Our king was killed and they want to kill us,” he said of their reason for seeking asylum. “We can’t tell them where to go; we have no input on where they go,” Mennell said. “They are free to move about the country and go where they need to go.”
Luis Orellana, 23, of Nicaragua walked and hitched rides for a month to get to this spot. His will to survive is bringing him closer to Miami and his grandmother. “I hope [U.S. officials] will allow him to stay,” she said in a raspy voice. ”I haven’t seen him in six or seven years. He was a young boy.”
Mary Otaiyi, 33, of Nigeria, carried her sleeping 4-year-old on her back while holding her 10-year-old’s hand. She said they had flown to Brazil, then walked and bused through Bolivia, Peru and onward into Mexico, taking a month to get to America.”I came for a good life for my kids,” says Mary Otaiyi, carrying her 4-year-old on her back. “I have no relatives here and no job in Nigeria.”
Colombian Vivian Ordoñez, 39, kept her two daughters close to her. She had only a backpack with essential toiletries. Ordoñez said her husband was murdered in Bogotá and she feared for her life. Contacted by phone in Queens, her nephew Marlon Ordoñez, 26, said he was glad to hear that his aunt and cousins were on their way. He was also expecting to hear from his mother, Monica Ordoñez.
“Citizenship and Immigration Services decide whether somebody has a credible fear of return to their country of origin, and is it the judge who decides to grant asylum or not,” said Mennell, adding that the agency can also grant asylum in certain cases. “If unaccompanied minors are found, they are processed at the Yuma processing center and then turned over to Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement,” Mennell said.
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