14ymedio, Havana, 16 October 2023 — The Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) is misinforming Cubans who go to the headquarters located in the Tláhuac shelter, in Mexico City. The authorities “assure that no permit is needed” to prevent migrants from being detained and deported, a Cuban woman tells 14ymedio. In case the police stop her, just stating that “she is waiting for the CBP One appointment” will be enough to avoid arrest, COMAR officials told her.
This woman, who came to process a safe-conduct pass, was assured that she “could even stay in Mexico City,” as long as she did not move to any other state. In addition, they warned her that if she requests asylum, they will deny her the CBP One appointment.
There are already many Cubans and Venezuelans in Mexico City, mainly in neighborhoods where rent is lower and there aren’t as many requirements to rent. “They are seen a lot in the stores of neighborhoods and in the supermarkets such as Bodega Aurrera and Soriana, buying food,” says a resident of the Mexican capital.
Yunior, a 25-year-old habanero who arrived in Mexico City just a week ago from Tapachula, tells this newspaper that, although his goal is to continue to the U.S. through CBP One, an appointment for which he signed up along with 10 other Cubans, he intends to find a job in the city and raise all the money he can. The young man was part of the thousands of migrants who were waiting in Tapachula for an appointment to apply for asylum with the U.S. authorities and had to move to the Mexican capital after the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported that no more flight permits were going to be processed for foreigners admitted to CBP One in that city, and that this procedure should be done in Mexico City.
At the moment, Yunior, although he is living with three other compatriots in a small room, wants to find cheaper rent and is constantly checking Marketplace, on Facebook, where rentals are published.
But not everyone has had the same luck as the habanero, who was able to avoid the Migration checkpoints and reach Mexico City. Reinier Martínez, one of the 138 Cubans deported by Mexico on a flight last Saturday, denounced the irregularities committed daily by immigration agents and the Government.
Reinier Martínez, one of the 138 Cubans deported by Mexico on a flight last Saturday, denounced the irregularities committed daily by immigration agents and the Government
“You have to sign to be able to leave,” an agent at the Siglo XXI Migration Station told him. Without knowing what it was about, the man reported in a