The drama living 700,000 Colombians in the US

Luis, who preferred to hide his real name for security issues, is a 38 -year -old Colombian, who lives in New Jersey. He has been undocumented for four years that he went to the United States with his tourist visa, But with the aim of staying, after feeling that in Colombia the employment situation was increasingly complex.

He lived in several areas before reaching New Jerseyfollowing Latin migrants who told him that in that city it was easier to obtain a job without having their Green Card, ID or IDP, official documents that certify residence or citizenship. They also enable people to work formally.

Every morning, Luis Pedalea for an hour until his work in Newark; He says that he is afraid to go by car or public transport due to the raids announced by the new government. His life has become a race against fear and many feel the same. Of five people with whom he shared Casa, one already returned to his country of origin for fear of facing deportation.

You cannot open a bank account or access health services without exposing yourself. When you go to the supermarket, you prefer to pay in cash to avoid records. “Here you live with your head down, you can’t trust (…) andLife is not enjoyed as before, a few months ago I could party, now it is difficult“, says.

These days, he has heard situations of colleagues who have been arrested in surprise operations in shipping companies, factories and restaurants: “In New York the thing is complicated, they have fired many workers for fear of reprisals against companies (… ) Many migrants sell in the streets some of those have already taken the ICE (Immigration and Customs Control Service), others are coming for nearby cities because they say that the hardest raids will be in that city. ”

Luis’s case is not unique. Thousands of Colombians in the US face the same uncertainty. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2022 there were 11 million immigrants without legal status in the country, among those 700,000 nationals.

Camila arrived in the United States crossing the border through Mexico. He left in January 2024 from a flight to Mexico City and then reached the city of Mexicali to surrender to the Mexican authorities corrupt that would help you cross “the hole” in exchange for $ 100. However, he says that in Mexicali there is a first “filter”, some are not allowed to pass others, she went after explaining that the reason for her migration was following a political persecution she suffered in Colombia.

De Mexicali traveled by Bus to Puerto Peñasco, “that’s the desert,” he says. They were hours of travel through several villages to the border, “And there we pass, because they already know as a specific time to be able to take it to that place to pass all the migrants.”

From there, along with other undocumented, he walked about an hour until he reached a migration point where he handed over the US authorities, who were waiting for these groups of people to submit them to other filters, from where they make them return to Many, others already deport others, leave them: “Some spend there about 15 days until they are deported to their country.”

“We arrive at a shelter where the situation is already defined, they already look and decide whether one happens or does not happen (…) I left about two days after being there. ” After paperwork, medical exams, Covid tests, they sent their group to Camila to another town. Already in the United States, where they were received by a Christian community that gave them food and allowed them to see, take them to the airport to continue their destination to the respective cities to which they will arrive. Camila went to Boston, where she was received nearby friends to support her at the beginning of her “American dream.”

A few months after he had reached his destination, he was pregnant. Now she is a mom and although she managed to obtain her political asylum following the situation she lived in the country, she faces the uncertainty of not knowing if her daughter will keep citizens by birth after Trump’s threats for removing that right. “It is an alarm, because so far nothing has happened. While the state of Massachusetts has been like a sanctuary for immigrants, it is not known what will happen. ”

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Gloria Torres left Colombia 7 years ago with a certainty in the heart: His destiny was in the United States and wanted to build the American dream but also a family. He departed with the hope of elaborating a stable future, driven by who is her husband, a legal resident, who at that time would obtain American citizenship.

While today Gloria also has papers, she affirms that the current situation has changed and related how the first years, while she was undocumented, were a constant struggle.

Living without documents meant being in the shadow, living with fear. She managed every day to work with the fear of being arrested and deported, which meant not only to abandon her dream, but also her partner. He worked in restaurants where they warned him that if he arrived migration he had to run. “If a policeman arrived or stuck behind the car, I wanted to throw myself into the river”remember between anguish and nerve laughs.

He finally got the residence and his life changed. Now he studies and works without fear, but said that his case is an exception in the reality that is lived today. “People no longer leave, they feel in the streets, in restaurants, even in traffic,” Gloria says, based in Miami, “If there is no way to fix papers, I would sell everything and return. I prefer to return with dignity than to live with fear”, Says Gloria ensuring that her desire is in a few years to return to Colombia with her husband, to spend a quiet old age in her town of origin.

With the Trump administration reinforcing the operations of the customs immigration and control service, the fear of being deported became a constant. According to official figures, at the cut of February 4, 8,786 arrests of undocumented migrants have been recorded since Trump’s mandate began on January 20. In addition, the Republican decided to eliminate temporary protection status for 600,000 Venezuelans.

Undoubtedly, the current situation is of total uncertainty for the nearly 11 million migrants living in the country, many who still expect to see how the situation advances or prefer to be deported before returning. “One clings to hope. If I leave, I lose everything I have built. If I stay, fear never leaves, ”adds Luis.