MUA member Cristina was featured in Teen Vogue on April 25, 2022. She participated in a rally in San Francisco for the National Day of Action against Title 42, an outdated policy that uses the COVID19 pandemic as an excuse to exclude asylum seekers.
Title 42 and Remain in Mexico are Cruel Immigration Policies
In this opinion piece, an asylum seeker talks about her experience of being kidnapped.
by Cristina
This account was prepared by Cristina*, with the help of the staff of Mujeres Unidas y Activas and the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.
Growing up in El Salvador, I never imagined leaving my home. But as I got older, I got scared. Women I knew were being assaulted and kidnapped by organized crime groups, never to be seen again. We couldn't turn to anyone for help, not even the police. The gangs that terrorized our community were in complete control, and even some police officers were members.
I didn't want to leave my loved ones behind. But at some point I realized that even if I survived, I had no future there. So, in December, at the age of 21, I decided to ask for asylum. I have relatives in the San Francisco Bay Area and believed I could find a new home there. I packed some clothes, my medicine, some photos of my family to give me courage, and headed north.
It was a long and difficult journey. I traveled in many different buses and cars, determined to reach the United States border. During that time I realized I was pregnant and became very sick. I could barely keep food down and lost 20 pounds in three weeks.
On December 23, I crossed the Rio Grande in my underwear (to keep my clothes and shoes dry) and reported to U.S. border agents. I made the crossing with two other women who had children with them. I told the agents that I was very afraid of returning to my country and that I wanted to ask for asylum. I thought that would be it, that the worst part of my experience was over.
Instead, the agents simply took our information, photos and fingerprints, without asking us why we had come. They didn't start the legal asylum process that I thought we had to go through.
I felt very bad, so I asked one of the agents for medical assistance. They said they couldn't do anything to help and put me and the other women in a holding cell. With the air conditioning on full blast and only a thin sheet of aluminum to keep us warm, we were freezing. I understood then why immigrants call these cells hieleras. I could not sleep
At six the next morning they put us on a bus with nine other migrants, including children who were alone. We didn't know where we were going or what they were going to do with us. I thought: maybe now I can plead my asylum case.
But 30 minutes later we arrived at the bridge that connects Texas with the Mexican city of Reynosa, where they made us cross back into Mexico. They didn't say why we had to go back.
I later learned that this happened because of Title 42, a federal policy that, under the guise of public health, allows border agents to “expel” people back to Mexico, or even put them on deportation flights to their homes. countries of origin, without allowing them to apply. for asylum The Trump administration enacted the policy through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite protests from top CDC doctors. After taking office, Biden continued with politics.
A few days later, I went to a house where they told me someone would take me and other migrants back to the border. Instead, a group of people, who I think were Mexican police, showed up and cornered us.
They made a phone call and moments later a car arrived. They ordered us to enter. We didn't know where we were going, but we had no choice; They were intimidating and had weapons. After we got into the car, it was clear that we had just been handed over to a cartel. We were trapped.
The poster kept us in a dark room for about three weeks. We barely had food or water, and we weren't even allowed to leave the room to go to the bathroom. We all had to share a flea-infested mattress. They made us call our families periodically and ask them to send money to the cartel in exchange for keeping us alive. One of the migrants whose family could not pay was disappeared.
In those disgusting conditions I contracted an infection, which made me even sicker. For the last few days in that horrible room, I was so sick and miserable that I couldn't move. Stuck on that mattress, unable to walk, I couldn't even bring myself to cry.
The others who were kidnapped with me saw how bad it was and begged the cartel to let me go. I guess it worked, because not long afterward they put me on a bus to Monterrey, Mexico.
I arrived in Monterrey at 10 at night, with no idea where to go next. But I was free. Fortunately, I was able to find someone to take me to a hospital. The doctors said that if he had come later, he would have died.