Survival story

Until a few months ago, Victor Andrews* had spent the last 40 years of his life living on less than $100 a day in a gritty St Andrew community.

The last person from his immediate family who had been left in Jamaica, he had struggled with basic necessities while on the island and yearned for another shot at travelling to the United States (US).

In January, Andrews, 65, said he built up enough confidence and, after watching others get across the US-Mexico border, called on his relatives in the US to help him fund the costly illegal trip that had no guarantee and required significant resolve.

The total cost of travel from Jamaica to the border can run anywhere between $300,000 and $450,000 with costs from smugglers expected to rise with the expiration of pandemic-era border restrictions.

“Mi honestly never think bout the dangers. Some of the people dem weh a talk never go though it. If mi did follow dem I would stuck a Jamaica. A man like me now can tell you bout it … who, mi just pack mi bags and leave Jamaica and nuh tell nobody,” Andrews said.

He travelled to Panama and then to Mexico and made his way to the border with the help of coyotes (members of the cartel who illegally transport migrants to the border).

“Eighty days mi spend in detention and that was the first some of my friends knew mi gone. I call and mek dem know mi good,” he said.

Andrews told The Gleaner that, during those 80 days, he saw many Jamaicans and made friends with other nationals.

He said he knew he would be admitted in the US after failing on the first attempt, some 30 years ago.

“I couldn’t read properly and I had bandoloo travel documents inna dem days and, when we reach America, the man ask mi how much time mi visit the country and I said ‘First’. [But] The visa fly on already and so dem turn mi back,” he said.

Would do it again

Already a month and a half out of detention and, pending asylum court hearings, Andrews said he has gained weight. He added that, if he is ultimately not granted asylum and sent back to Jamaica, he would “run leave poverty again”.

He told The Gleaner that he has seen the news about the deaths of migrants but said that, when faced with the kinds of challenges he faced, death would be the last thing on a person’s mind.

“Most would say mi dead already. A survival mi tell mi self. My age, many people surprise but when dem look back at my situation, poverty, crime and health, dem lift dem hat to me,” Andrews said.

Title 42, a Donald Trump-imposed restriction which allowed for immediate deportation on the basis of the spread of COVID-19, came to an end last week and US authorities are expecting more immigrants to show up at their borders.

“Mi family dem glad mi come through before all of that and mi hope other Jamaicans can come through too,” Andrews said.

One of those hopeful Jamaicans is Miguel Michaels*, a barber of 10 years.

Michaels is adamant about joining his partner who managed to get across the border earlier this year.

He told The Gleaner he and a few others were denied entry to Mexico on his first attempt and returned home.

The Joe Biden administration, in the interim, has reverted to Title 8, which will now require-asylum seekers to apply before coming to the US.

The new CBP1 app must also be used to schedule appointments for asylum.

Michaels said, “I had another route in mind. I was saving up because I think I know what the issue was the last time. The new requirements, mi kinda nervous but mi still a go cause nothing nah gwaan a Jamaica.”

His only skill is as a barber, which pays better in the US and is what he is banking on for survival if admitted.

He told The Gleaner he was further encouraged by his partner who has since turned her life around.

“She get a good work and send home money and start save. She couldn’t do that while she was here. She worked at night club and when she a come off late at night she a fret ‘cause the violence in the area ... Dem rape a girl and her mind was made up,” he said.

A woman, Catherine Forbes*, informed The Gleaner that she was told that there is a way to be smuggled into the US without being caught.

According to Forbes, several people known to her have been successfully smuggled.

“A just somebody mi want keep my 12-year-old daughter. She a graduate this year from primary school and, as she settle in high school, mi gone. Jamaicans over Mexico a mek link. A just the right link you affi get on. A two year mi a throw partner for this, I’m ready, mi sorry,” she told The Gleaner.

Forbes told The Gleaner that someone told her and provided proof of the use of Google mapping to track family members smuggled across the border to soften fears of kidnapping.

“Dem track dem family from start to finish, dem every move. When dem leave Mexico and when dem reach US soil,” Forbes said.

Last Wednesday, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, told journalists during a post-Cabinet press briefing that a Jamaican man who left the island with the intention of crossing the border was found dead on a street in Mexico.

Johnson Smith urged Jamaicans not to be drawn by scammers and smugglers with false promises.

*Names changed to protect the identifies of individuals interviewed

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com

Smuggling Facts

• In 2020, 4,467 Jamaicans were legally admitted into Mexico. A year later, arrivals surged by 68 per cent to 7,509.

• In 2022, a total of 16,186 Jamaican nationals travelled to the country by air transportation.

• Five-year ban and swift deportation and prosecution if new asylum seeking guidelines not followed

• Most non-Mexican migrants can’t enter the US without permission.