TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
BY KEVIN SIEFFmexico city — For Central
American migrants and asylum
seekers on their way north, re-
cent weeks have brought pol-
icies narrowing their legal ave-
nues to life in the United States.
Then, on Saturday, came an-
other threat to their dreams of
refuge north of the U.S.-Mexico
border: The killing of 22 people
at a shopping center in El Paso,
minutes after the online appear-
ance of a manifesto complaining
about a “Hispanic invasion of
Texas.”
Eight Mexicans were killed in
the attack.
For those who heard about
the event, it was another mo-
ment to rework the calculus that
underpinned their decision to
migrate. Was now the right time
to move their families to the
United States?
“It seems anyone with mental
problems can buy a gun and kill
people,” said Katerine Morales,
28, a Nicaraguan asylum seeker
waiting in southern Mexico with
plans to travel to the U.S. border.
“I never understood that.”
Morales had heard vague de-
tails about the El Paso attack
through other migrants in the
Mexican state of Chiapas. It was
part of the paradox of the United
States, as she saw it, a country
reckoning with its own prob-
lems of violence, but where law
and order and economic oppor-
tunity seemed to prevail.
Compared with Nicaragua,
where she said she was attacked
by soldiers after attending pro-
tests against President Daniel
Ortega last year, the United
States remains a dream.
“If I return home, I’ll be killed
or jailed,” she said. “The U.S. still
offers me stability.”
Rodrigo Carrillo, a coffee
farmer in the Guatemalan state
of Huehuetenango, has lived as
an undocumented immigrant in
the United States and is consid-
ering a return. He said that
“everyone has a destiny.”
“If my destiny is to be shot in
the United States, that’s it.”
Most migrants who have trav-
eled to the United States in the
past two years began their jour-
neys with at least a vague sense
of President Trump’s views onmigration. Those with easier ac-
cess to the Internet or television
heard some of the specifics: His
likening of migrant caravans to
“invasions” or his claim that
Mexicans were criminals and
rapists.
They decided to migrate not
because of Trump, but despite
him. Some because they were
fleeing certain death fromarmed groups or hostile govern-
ments. Others because they
knew they could earn more
money picking grapes in Cali-
fornia or building homes in Tex-
as than they could by doing
similar work at home.
“Migrants in the United
States have always lived with the
terror that they could be victims
of hate crimes,” said RubenFigueroa, an activist with the
migrant rights group Movimien-
to Migrante Mesoamericano in
Mexico. “For those in transit,
they are leaving barbarity in
their countries of origin, and
their focus is on leaving.”
Still, the El Paso attack was a
moment for some to weigh the
risks of life in their own coun-
tries against the risks of living asan immigrant in the United
States.
“I don’t understand if these
are terrorist attacks, if the peo-
ple are mentally ill or just rac-
ist,” said Carrillo, the coffee
farmer.
Carrillo arrived at the border
in June. He was told to wait
three months for his hearing
under the Trump administra-
tion’s Migrant Protection Proto-
cols — known as “Remain in
Mexico” — and chose to return
to Guatemala instead.
“But my country has discrimi-
nation, too, and it has no work.
At least in the United States
there is work,” he said.
A Guatemalan government
official echoed Carrillo’s senti-
ment.
“We need to be honest and
admit that our country is racist,
too,” said the official, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity.
“There is discrimination against
indigenous people. There is vio-
lence.
“The migrants say, “If I stay
here, I’m risking my life, so I
might as well try to get to the
United States, even if there are
problems there.”
Some migrants on their way
to the United States, or consid-
ering the journey, had not heard
about the El Paso mass shooting.
Some weren’t paying attention
to the news in the United States.
Others didn’t have Internet ac-
cess.
But when they were told
about the attack, they weren’t
surprised.
“The United States has always
been against Latinos,” said Jose,
a Salvadoran migrant in Guate-
mala who declined to use his last
name out of concern for his
security. “And it’s an error to
maintain an armed population.
“That’s something I had to
endure in El Salvador, too.”
[email protected]Migrants seeking stability and opportunity are undeterred by El Paso attack
SARAH L. VOISIN/THE WASHINGTON POST
Coffee farmer Rodrigo Carrillo and his son Marvel, 5, have a meal at home in Guatemala. Carrillo, who has lived in the United States as an
undocumented immigrant, is considering trying to return. His wife and younger son are already there. “Everyone has a destiny,” he said.
“If my destiny is to be shot in the United States, that’s it.”mass shootings in america
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