Shafaqna English- The United States has deported nearly 13,000 Cubans and Venezuelans to Mexico, where they are vulnerable to cartel violence, according to Human Rights Watch.
While Mexico has accepted these types of deportations for years, the deportees under the Trump administration are older and have lived in the US for longer than in the past, making it more difficult for them to find work and increasing the urgency of the need for medical care.
The report, which is based on more than 50 interviews in the southern Mexican cities Tapachula and Villahermosa, comes as the US President has expanded immigration enforcement to carry out his mass deportation plan.
“Imagine being 60 or 70 years old, uprooted from your life overnight and sent to a country you don’t know, where authorities leave you out to dry without access to even the most basic services — shelter, health care. Imagine being dropped in dangerous cities with nothing but the clothes on your back,” said Alcira Hava, Leonard H. Sandler Fellow at Human Rights Watch, who worked on the report.
“That’s the reality for many Cubans deported to Mexico,” Hava said.
More than half the Cubans deported had a criminal record, but only 16 percent were for violent crimes, according to the researchers. One-fourth had no criminal history.
Most were detained at routine check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but some were detained at their workplace or in public spaces. None were taken before a judge to contest their deportation to Mexico, even when they expressed fear for their safety.
Sources: Arab News