Jose was reunited with his wife and four-year-old child in the United States minutes after Washington closed its southern border to Venezuelans.
But his happiness was short-lived.
His adult son, currently struggling through the treacherous Darien Gap jungle spanning Colombia and Panama, will likely be turned away by the United States — if he even makes it this far.
“Last night I was happier than a child at Christmas,” he told AFP news agency on Thursday.
“But when I saw the news, I immediately called my son and asked him not to continue his journey.”
AFP changed the names of the migrants interviewed for this story due to their vulnerable status or risk of retaliation from traffickers.
– Humanitarian Program –
The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that Venezuelans who enter the United States by land will be turned back to Mexico, just like nearly all other visa-free migrants who come across the border.
So far they have been granted exceptions because Washington mistrusts the left-wing regime in Caracas, which punishes political opponents.
Instead, the United States will allow 24,000 Venezuelans to apply for entry under a humanitarian program similar to a program that has taken in tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion of their country.
The program, launched a month before the election, is an offer by President Joe Biden’s administration to chart a path between Democratic calls for help for desperate migrants and Republican calls to stem what they call a “tide” of illegal migration.
By September, border officials had encountered more than 155,000 Venezuelans, more than triple the year-ago figure.
Most, like Jose, arrive in Texas.
He set foot on US soil Sunday after wading through chest-deep waters of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.
“It was nothing compared to what I had to do to get here,” he said as he stood in the scorching Texas sun, his clothes wet and his shoes muddy.
In his backpack were the few pieces of clothing he still owned.
“I left the others on the street.”
– crisis –
Millions of Venezuelans have left the country in recent years fleeing a political and economic crisis under authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.
Many have traveled to nearby Latin American countries, but increasing numbers are traveling to the United States – despite the distance and danger.
Videos on TikTok — a major news source for Venezuelans — show columns of people with backpacks making their way through thick vegetation.
Stories of rape, robbery, murder and bribery are common among those who make it.
Jose’s journey through seven countries lasted a month.
After being reunited with his wife and young child, he thought things were finally coming together when his 22-year-old son set out from Caracas to join him.
Then the US government changed the rules.
“I’m very sad, and so is he, because we finally all wanted to be together,” he says.
“It would hurt me a lot if he tried so hard and they sent him back to Mexico where the people are very good but the immigration officers and the police treat us a lot.”
Jose says his time in Mexico was the most difficult part of the trip.
“In the jungle, they put a bracelet on you to distinguish those who pay and those who don’t. Those who don’t pay are mistreated.
“In Mexico, the coyote will tell you it’s $500, but if you tell him ‘I have $200,’ he’ll accept it.
“But a Mexican policeman will tell you it’s $500 and if you don’t give it to him, he’ll beat you or rob you.”
Maria, who also arrived in Eagle Pass on Sunday, was reunited with her boyfriend in Georgia on Wednesday.
“I was lucky, but the Mexican agents took my friends and beat them. They detained her for two weeks and released her somewhere else. Now they can no longer enter the United States,” she says.
Maria’s boyfriend is over the moon that she has made it to the United States, where he hopes she will receive treatment for a chronic illness there.
But he worries about what will happen now to his three sisters who are somewhere deep in the Darien Gap.
“All I can do is think that I’m happy because Maria is finally here, but I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said.
