The Tribune traveled with Esperanza and her family from El Paso to Chicago Union Station to gain a better understanding of what migrants experience on the U.S. portion of their journey.
, according to recent Department of Homeland Security data.
Over the course of the trip, Yuledy and Pedro were each other’s playmates. They raced up and down train platforms, arm wrestled on curbs, explored nooks and doors at the shelter and threw plastic rubber ducks for Milo. She scolded Pedro when he wandered off to explore a corner of the shelter and didn’t tell her where he was going. She laughed with Yuledy when she put a plush stuffed animal on her head or drew a dog that looked like Milo. She made sure Yolexi ate and rested in the shelter.
doesn’t discriminate, Fabian said. The rivers in the dense rainforest of Darién take you and lift you off your feet, no matter who you are or where you come from.The Darién Gap is a jungle between Colombia and Panama that has seen a record number of migrants crossing through its 60 miles of rainforest, mountains and swamps the past few years. It’s considered one of the most dangerous migrant routes in the world.
Fabian and Yolexi continued through the river, but after watching the drownings, Esperanza went a different way with her two younger children, over a mountain. They reunited an hour and a half later, Fabian said, but his mother was terrified. She hated being separated.Esperanza said she hated the heavy rain and cold air. The flash flood water that crashed against the rocks in the night near where they slept, soaking them and their meager belongings.
They had survived the Darién Gap and now lay on the dry grass, scrolling on their phones. It was midday, so others had gone off to find temporary work. Garbage and stray toys were strewn on the paths around the park. A 3-year-old from Venezuela with curly hair sat on a cushion with her mom eating strawberry wafer cookies.
The app has improved significantly since it was created in October 2020 with no Spanish-language option, said Crystal Sandoval, director of strategic initiatives for the Mexico branch of Las Americas immigrant advocacy group. But people who have phones with slower data often take longer to get appointments, and many still wait months. It is frustrating and can put them at risk, Sandoval said.
On the El Paso side of the border, the fence rises 30 feet from the sand. Gov. Abbott ordered bound loops of barbed wire to be added to the top and side of the fence.On July 11, Esperanza and her family got in a line and, using the app, crossed over. They were told to wait in a little room directly beyond the bridge. Esperanza said she was nervous about being processed, but they were moved quickly along and asked if they wanted to go to a shelter.
Three hundred fifty-nine yards from the metal wall that separates Mexico and the United States, the Mendez family settled in the church enclosed by a chain-link fence.!” a sign on the outside was painted in bright red letters. “Welcome to Miguel’s House!” Esperanza talks with Yuledy after conditioning her hair near the showers at the Holy Family Catholic Church migrant shelter on July 12, 2023, in El Paso, Texas.
When Milo chewed through his collar, Esperanza sat on a cot and sewed it. She threaded the needle and pulled it steadily through, as though she’d tied the red threads together hundreds of times before. About 15 to 20 times a year, the church receives a large family with few resources, so volunteers pool together to help, said Wysoczanski. The Mendez family was one such family.
But when Esperanza asked for her money back, the woman at the counter refused. She shook her head and walked away. Because ticket-buying had taken so long, Wysoczanski had to leave for a meeting. Esperanza walked the mile back to the shelter from the bus station in El Paso, the roofs of Juárez behind her, just across the border.
“Are clothes cheap here?” she asked, peering into a display case at a mannequin dressed in business casual. Yuledy, from left, Esperanza and Yolexi eat their last meal with the others at the migrant shelter at Holy Family Catholic Church before leaving for the bus station to travel to Denver on July 13, 2023.
She poured water into an empty Cheerios container and made him drink for a few moments before getting on. The clouds were dense over Juárez as the full bus took off toward New Mexico. Pedro looked out the window at the mountains passing by. Esperanza took a video on her phone. Yuledy pointed and stared.” said Yuledy, gesturing to the figurine outside the bathroom. “Look, Mom! When the little doll is red, it’s occupied. Watch me.”The bus was uncomfortable, but the Mendez family slept anyway, twisting their bodies to fit in their seats, which bounced up and down.
A 24-year-old Venezuelan man named Owen Ceballos lingered outside. He struck up a conversation with Fabian, telling him they needed to go to the Coliseum, where they would be processed and helped. They lined up outside the Coliseum with dozens of other migrants looking for direction. A man in a plaid shirt came over and asked them what their plans were.,” he said. “Great. We open at 8.”
The Mendez family arrives at the Denver Coliseum, driven there by Owen Ceballos, a fellow Venezuelan, on July 14, 2023, in Denver. Ceballos said he came to Denver eight months ago and earns money by shuttling migrants from the bus station to the temporary shelter in the coliseum. The family sat, watching pedestrians pass on their way to the Friday Taylor Swift concert. Fans wore glitter and bedazzled tracksuits. A girl with blond hair and a flowing red dress walked by, and Esperanza stared in awe.The Mendez family watches as pedestrians pass on their way to the Taylor Swift concert in Denver, while they wait for the train to Chicago on July 14, 2023. “How pretty,” Esperanza said to Yuledy.
The train was three hours late. Yuledy and Pedro explored the rooms in Denver’s Union Station, arm wrestled close to the rail, flipped plastic water bottles and raced each other on the platform. Yolexi and Fabian played with each other’s faces and laughed. They passed through Nebraska, Iowa and into Illinois, and the family remarked on what they saw out the window. The rows of corn that bent like an optical illusion. The trees, the fields.
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