By ELLIOT SPAGAT
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — A nurse who fled Cuba as a part of the Caribbean nation’s largest exodus in additional than six a long time wanted a spot to remain in Mexico as she waited to legally enter the U.S. utilizing a authorities app. A girl who had lived her complete life in the identical Tijuana neighborhood was determined for medical assist after a canine assault left her with wounds to her legs.
A mutual acquaintance introduced the 2 girls collectively. Nurse Karla Figueredo stayed with Martha Rosales for 3 days in October 2023, ready for a border appointment booked via the CBP One app and treating Rosales’ canine bites. When Figueredo left for the U.S., she received Rosales’ permission to offer her identify to different migrants.
Phrase shortly unfold and Rosales made her dwelling a part of a roster of not less than three dozen migrant shelters in her hometown on the U.S.-Mexico border, briefly housing individuals who use the CBP One app.
“I told God that if they didn’t amputate my feet, I would help every Cuban,” stated Rosales, 45, who was utilizing a wheelchair after being attacked by 5 canine till Figueredo helped heal her wounds.
CBP One has introduced practically 1 million individuals to the U.S. on two-year permits with eligibility to work however may go away as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace.
Figueredo, 25, now works as a medical assistant within the Houston space and retains in contact with Rosales, who give up her job as a financial institution cleaner to give attention to her migrant shelter. The individuals Rosales homes, principally Cubans, consult with her as “’Tía Martha” (Aunt Martha) as she cooks pancake breakfasts, throws birthday events and shuttles them to their CBP One appointments.
Supporters say CBP One has helped carry order to the border and decreased unlawful crossings. However Trump has stated he would finish it as a part of a broader immigration crackdown. Critics say it prioritizes a lottery system over individuals who have lengthy lived within the U.S. illegally whereas paying taxes and individuals who have waited years for visas.
Dayron Garcia, a physician in Cuba who heard about Rosales from a nephew, utilized along with his spouse and youngsters and plans to settle with a buddy in Houston. He stated Rosales’ home “feels like family” and that “CBP One has been a salvation.”
“It’s a guarantee,” Garcia, 40, stated. “You enter with papers, with parole.”
CBP One started below Trump and adjusted below Biden
U.S. Customs and Border Safety debuted CBP One close to the tip of Trump’s first time period as a method for customs brokers to schedule inspections and for guests with short-term visas to increase stays.
The Biden administration prolonged its use to migrants to exchange an opaque patchwork of exemptions to a pandemic-related asylum ban that was then in place.
CBP One is widespread with Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Mexicans, probably as a result of advocates of their communities put it on the market.
Unlawful border crossings by Cubans plunged below CBP One from a peak of practically 35,000 in April 2022 to only 97 in September.
Demand for appointments has far outstripped provide, with a mean of about 280,000 individuals competing for 1,450 each day slots towards the tip of final 12 months, in keeping with CBP. Winners should report back to a border crossing in three weeks.
An evening owl
Migrant shelters alongside Mexico’s border with the U.S. at the moment are occupied primarily by individuals searching for the net appointments.
Rosales’ home is in a neighborhood with ramshackle houses the place outdated tires are stacked to cease flash floods. Migrants watch tv, play billiards, do chores and take care of their youngsters at Rosales’ home or a rental dwelling close by. Those that don’t but have appointments work their telephones for slots made accessible each day at eight U.S. border crossings with Mexico, a job likened to attempting to purchase Taylor Swift live performance tickets.
Rosales works all through the night time. A helper drives to the airport in an SUV Rosales purchased with retirement pay from her financial institution job.
Shortly after midnight, she shuttles visitors from her home to Tijuana’s foremost border crossing with San Diego for the day’s first appointments at 5 a.m. She chats with them, smiles for pictures and hugs individuals goodbye.
She checks her cellphone for migrants needing shelter who heard about her on social media or from family and friends. Her contact listing identifies them by dimension of social gathering and appointment date: “3 on the 16th,” “6 on the 17th.”
Rosales, considered one of 13 youngsters, dropped out of college in third grade. Studying the Bible taught her sufficient to barely perceive texts, which she typically responds to with voice messages or calls.
Enrique Lucero was Tijuana’s director of migrant affairs when she got here to Metropolis Corridor for recommendation. He helped Rosales set up a authorized entity to boost cash and made himself accessible for emergencies, resembling when a lady missed her CBP One appointment to offer beginning. Lucero talked to CBP to verify the lady and her child received in.
“She worries about them. She cries for them,” Lucero stated.
The exodus from Cuba
Border arrests of Cubans elevated in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and after anti-government protests in 2021. Nicaragua had not too long ago eased guidelines for Cubans to fly from Havana, permitting them to keep away from strolling via the Darien Hole, a harmful jungle in Colombia and Panama. By the spring of 2022, Cubans eclipsed all nationalities however Mexicans in unlawful crossings.
“CBP One came like a gift from God,” stated Yoandis Delgado, who flew to Nicaragua in 2023, paid a smuggler $1,000 to succeed in southern Mexico and was repeatedly robbed by Mexican authorities whereas attempting to succeed in the U.S. border. “CBP One gave us a sense of possibility, of hope.”
Delgado, a cook dinner in Cuba, stated Rosales’ dwelling and neighborhood don’t stand out for individuals searching for to prey on migrants, giving a way of safety he wouldn’t get at resorts or different shelters.
“She lives in the same condition that we do, not any better,” Delgado stated after a pancake breakfast. “She cries for everything that happens to us, for what we have suffered to get here from Cuba.”
A grim future for CBP One
Biden administration officers painting CBP One as a key success in its technique to create authorized pathways on the border whereas deterring unlawful crossings. They observe individuals in life-threatening circumstances can come to a border crossing with out an appointment to plead their case.
Anxiousness is spreading amongst migrants in Mexico who worry Trump will finish CBP One. Even these within the U.S. are uneasy as a result of parole expires after two years.
The Trump transition crew didn’t reply to a query about CBP One’s future, however his allies say it’s overly beneficiant and encourages immigration. A invoice that stalled within the Senate in 2023 would have prohibited utilizing the app to confess migrants.
Figueredo, the nurse who helped Rosales, plans to get a inexperienced card below a 1966 regulation that applies to Cubans. She says she and her associate, a barber, got here to “continue to grow professionally and support our future children.”
She writes Rosales usually, telling her that her job is “crazy” busy and asking about her well being. “I hope you’re very happy,” she wrote.
Initially Printed: January 17, 2025 at 9:28 AM PST