Starting from scratch: why some migrants are returning to the United States
More than two months have passed since Canada permanently closed Roxham Road. Despite this new reality, many migrants are still living in hotels, not only in Montreal, but also in cities in Ontario, a province to which migrants from Roxham began to be transferred in July 2022, in order to avoid a crisis in Quebec.
There are no exact numbers, but migrants themselves feel that hundreds of migrants have chosen to return to the United States for a variety of reasons. Long waiting times for an initial interview in the asylum process, the lack of a work permit, difficulties in renting an apartment, discrimination, language barriers, and even unmet expectations are some of the reasons why these people have returned to our neighbor to the south.
Others continue to wait, hoping that their asylum application will be accepted, but they do not know how long they can wait, because they say that they only live on social assistance, that they do not want to be a burden on Canada and that what they want is to regularize their situation in order to be able to work and make a living in Canada.
Three months of waiting
After living for a year in Tennessee, United States, Juneisi Medina decided that the best thing for her and her two children was to abandon the American dream. It was necessary to look for a country that, although further away, allowed him to obtain permanent residence more quickly. As Christmas decorations fill the streets, Juneisi takes the bus and makes a 17-hour trip to New York. She then travelled alone with her two children, and all three then took another bus to Plattsburgh, before finally arriving at Roxham Road on December 12, 2022.
Her life as a migrant began long before that, and like thousands of Venezuelans who have chosen to leave their country, this existence includes several attempts to settle: in Peru, Mexico and the United States. “I decided to go to Canada because I always saw YouTubers on social networks explaining the possibilities the country offers on social networks. I told myself that it was a place where I could go and plan my life, but I had no idea what a shock it would be to be in Stand-by for more than three months. And, yes, it is true that they are helping you financially, but it is not enough. I was always thinking about how to generate income because I couldn't work. I didn't have a work permit,” she told La Converse from Nashville during a telephone interview.
Juneisi is a single parent. Her youngest son is three years old. To protect him and her family, she left Mexico, where she had managed to take refuge. “I fled Mexico because of the baby's father. I filed five complaints there, but nothing happened. The complaints were about domestic violence. That's why I first went to Nashville, where we lived for a year,” she explains.
In Nashville, the situation of the Medina family seems to be stabilizing. Juneisi gets a job, her eldest son is enrolled in school and her younger son can go to daycare. Despite this beginning of normality, the Venezuelan mother admits that she always dreamed of living in Canada. “I saw it as a country with more opportunities than the United States, especially for someone looking for papers, to be honest. So I asked myself what I was going to do with the money I earned if I didn't have papers. That's what prompted me to go to Canada.”
Once in the country, the small family spent their first two days in the spaces that the Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration Canada created near Roxham Road. Finally arrived in Montreal, Juneisi and her two children were placed in a hotel near the Berri-UQAM station.
Full of expectations
The daily life of the Venezuelan family then began to be built. Her days at the hotel were full of procedures and waiting. Juneisi is registering her youngest child in order to find subsidized daycare that she can afford when she has the opportunity to work legally. In fact, she is following the same process for her eldest son, who was supposed to enter fifth grade that year. Finally, she succeeded as best she could in opening a bank account in order to be in a position to receive the $1,194 assistance that the Quebec government granted her and bought a mobile phone in order to be able to communicate.
After three months in the hotel, Juneisi was informed that she had to leave the establishment or go to another accommodation near Montreal airport. To be able to leave, she had to find a way to rent an apartment — which she finally managed to do, not without difficulty. “I experienced a lot of discrimination. I had to beg people. When they accepted and I told them that I had two children, they told me that the space was too small, and we were talking about two-bedroom apartments. In the end, I got it because a Mexican gave me his lease,” she explains.
Just three days before the deadline imposed by Immigration Canada authorities, Juneisi leaves the hotel and goes to her new apartment. She only has one mattress, which she shares with her two children for the first few days. The elder then starts attending school, which creates another source of anxiety for Juneisi. According to her, her son was placed directly in a regular class, without going through a foster class, so he had to take courses without fully understanding French. Although she tried to find other options, she could not change anything. Her youngest son always stayed with her, as Juneisi could not get a place in subsidized daycare, and it was impossible for her to pay more than $1,000 per month for the services of an unsubsidized private daycare.
The rent for his apartment was $1,000. Once it was paid, the single mother had to divide up the money she had left for food and transport. Despite her best efforts to find other sources of income, the money she could earn was not enough. That's why she finally decided to look for Work Cash. She then finds herself cleaning up at the Olympic Stadium, for a company that hires people and pays them $15 per hour. “I went there twice to clean up. I spent 12 hours cleaning the stadium seats. We only had a 15 minute break in the morning and another in the afternoon. I left around 10:00 at night,” she said.
Another way to earn more money was to rent one of these rooms to a fellow Venezuelan, but when she said she had a roommate, the social assistance she was receiving went down.
On April 15, 2022, four months and three days after taking Roxham Road, Juneisi had a conversation with her roommate that will change her destiny. “My roommate told me that night that it was very difficult to find a job here. At first I told him that I was not leaving, that I should stay because of my children, and he answered: “What did you do in four months, what did you win, what did you do? You can't even send money to your family, you can't go for a walk with your children.” I told him he was right. I thought for a few minutes and at 22:30 he said, “Juneisi, we're leaving today, do you want to come?” I thought again and said, “Yes, let's go.” I quickly paid the rent with a neighbor who was looking for an apartment for her nephew. Then I took a backpack, put two small clothes for the children and a few shoes in it, and that's how we left,” she says. They paid $300 for someone to take them to the border.
Juneisi, her two children, and her Venezuelan roommate came to the United States through a wooded area, but full of lights. “They're really big lights that shine too bright. From there we walked about 800 m. Do not switch on your mobile phone to avoid attracting attention. Then, you just have to walk to meet the American border agents. They asked us if we were from Canada and nothing else. They didn't take our cell phones or anything else. Then, the process of collecting our data started again, and because everything was already recorded in the system, everything was easier.”
So Juneisi returned to Nashville, Tennessee, where she already had a life, acquaintances, a job, and where her children went to school. While living in Nashville was easier, it seemed very difficult to get papers there. Today, the mother works in construction, the same sector in which she worked before leaving Venezuela. Her 11-year-old son is entering sixth grade, and her youngest boy is in daycare. Barely a month after arriving in Nashville, Juneisi managed to buy herself a car with the money she earns in her Work Cash.
Satisfied, but...
From the United States, Juneisi realized that the Quebec government was continuing to pay him social assistance. She called an office at the Department of Employment and Social Solidarity to declare that she was no longer in Canada, but without success so far. “I don't want this money, but they haven't stopped filing it and that's something I want them to fix now,” she said.
Although she said she was financially satisfied with her decision to return to the United States, the mother did not rule out returning to Canada in the future. “I am very happy financially, but not at all psychologically. Sometimes I have regrets and I want to go back,” she says, adding that getting papers in the United States is a cumbersome and expensive process. “I can't go back now. I'm going to drive my kids crazy. But I'm talking to you from the bottom of my heart: I'm saying to myself, my God, I went home because of the money, but honestly, when will I get the papers here? ”
Many Venezuelans
Nohemí Rentería is a community leader based in Niagara Falls. She has lived in Canada for 14 years and works in her field — international trade — but also devotes her free time to working in finance and volunteering to help newly arrived migrants, including asylum seekers. Thanks to the Christian church she frequents, Nohemí learned about the situation of migrants who arrived in Canada via Roxham Road and were transferred to Ontario.
“The strong wave continued until March. My colleagues and I saw a lot of Indians, Pakistanis, Africans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans arriving. They were accommodated in hotels in Niagara Falls beginning in November 2022. But it is true that many are returning to the United States. Many did it even before Roxham closed,” she explains by phone to La Converse.
According to Nohemí, the Ontario authorities are currently offering to transfer migrants who want to settle in other provinces in Canada. “Last month, for example, they started telling everyone that they should start looking for housing. Some went to London because the rent was cheaper there, others stayed in Niagara Falls. I know six families who have already moved, and others have gone to British Columbia and Saskatchewan,” she adds.
And then there are those who decided to return to the United States. “They told me that it was very difficult for them. In the United States, you go out and you can easily find paid employment. In addition, there are a lot of people who speak Spanish, while here, a lot of migrants find it very difficult to speak English. Others are very affected by being locked up in hotels, because everything is far away. Before, they were in New York and could get around more easily. Here they are forced to ask for help or to walk a lot. The climate also played a role, as many arrived in the middle of winter,” says Ms. Rentería.
“They had no intention of staying”
For the community leader, many migrants had no intention of staying in Canada. “They just wanted to save money and go back to their country or to the United States. They came in response to recommendations, because some people embellish things by saying that in Canada, we give papers. What a lot of people don't see is that it's a sacrifice, that it takes time and, above all, that you really need to have a file to apply for asylum.” There have also been cases, according to Nohemí, of people who came to the country, bought cars, bought cars, filled up their credit cards, and then returned to the United States. “It's unfortunate, because, for these few cases, migrants are all put in the same basket,” she laments.
Nohemí believes that it is possible that migrants who agree to be transferred to other provinces are those who want to make a living in Canada. However, she recognizes that a large number of asylum seekers are doing their best to stay in the country.
Consider returning to the United States
Pedro (we changed his first name at his request) is another Venezuelan who came to Canada via Roxham Road. As in the case of Juneisi, his life as a migrant began years ago and his destination was Peru.
More recently, Pedro left Venezuela on September 11, 2022. He makes the trip on foot and by car, starting with Colombia. It first crosses the Darién jungle, part of which is in Panama, then it is Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, until it arrives in Mexico. He leaves hundreds of dollars to Coyotes, these smugglers who guarantee him access to irregular roads. “Sometimes, even the local police make us pay. I came with borrowed money, and my goal has always been to live in Canada,” he told La Converse.
Before arriving in the United States, Pedro was in Juárez, Mexico, at the time when the Biden administration declared that all irregular migrants would be returned to Mexico. There, he managed to work and get back some of the money he had spent on his trip.
On December 24 of the same year, the young man ventured out and crossed the Rio Grande River to enter the United States.
Once on American soil, reaching Canada became his first objective. “I first went to Denver and from there I managed to get to New York. This trip was paid for by an association that helps migrants in Denver. Once in New York, I took a bus to Plattsburgh. The bus was full, we were all going to cross the border. On January 10 at 7 am, we arrived in Canada,” he said.
Pedro then stayed in a hotel on Berri Street, where he stayed for two months. Then, he was transferred to a hotel near Montreal airport. There are only eight days left before being sent to the headquarters of the Regional Program for the Reception and Integration of Asylum Seekers, PRAIDA, where there are two weeks left. “I was told that I was going to run out of time, so I looked for accommodation. On April 1, I moved to the South Shore with the money I received from social assistance. The reality is that this help is not enough for me; that is why I am considering going to the United States. This month will be decisive, because if nothing changes by the end of the month, I will have to leave again,” he says. Pointing to his clothes and bag, he exclaims, “That's all I have.”
The Venezuelan also says that, in the situation in which he finds himself, he often chooses to do his shopping on foot, because it is difficult for him to even pay for his transport.
Although he was advised by an immigration lawyer, whom he preferred not to name, Pedro states that he requested a refund of the $1,000 advance that was given to him to process his asylum claim, as he feels that this professional did little to move his case forward. “I was in danger because of the work I was doing. They wanted us to support the government, which I didn't like. I was working in a special department. I have never participated in demonstrations,” says the young man, who was part of the Bolivarian National Police, a Venezuelan government body that was blamed by Amnesty International for the repression suffered by part of the Venezuelan population during the 2017 protests. Pedro assured La Converse that he did not participate in the repression.
” My family depends on me.”
Pedro says that the people he knows who have entered the country with him already have a work permit and have the main requirements to be able to work legally. He is still waiting for him and does not see a solution to his problem. Of the $800 in economic assistance he receives, 600 is spent on rent. He has to split the other 200 dollars between food, transportation, and cell phone bills. In the meantime, he contacts Immigration Canada, but since he doesn't speak French or English, he's told he can't be helped. “My roommate told them he could translate what I wanted to say, but they said they couldn't accept it,” he adds, exasperated.
This young man's dilemma is a big one, as he lives alone in Canada, while his entire family is in Venezuela, including his six-year-old daughter who lives with her parents. “My parents are elderly. My mom has migraines, and my dad had a stroke in 2019. He is disabled. My family depends on me.”
Pedro knows that many migrants use informal work to make ends meet. This is a solution he has tried, but he says he fears being a victim of fraud, by showing some messages sent to him by alleged labour recruiters. “It all looks like fraud,” he said, adding that he knows migrants who have worked cash, who have been exploited and who have not been paid after working.
Tiredness and worry can be read on the face of the young Venezuelan. He says he suffers from insomnia and prefers not to tell his parents what he is going through, so as not to worry them. In the meantime, he continues to count the days until the deadline he has set for himself to finally know what he will do. In the meantime, he took the opportunity to send a message to the immigration services: “It would be good to speed up the procedure for asylum seekers so that they can get their work permit. That way, the government would not have to shoulder the burden that we are, and we would have the opportunity to start working. I am not looking for a specific job. I am willing to work in any field — construction, sweeping, cleaning, anything.”
No decision has been made yet, but Pedro is well aware of what it means to return to the United States. He has already gone through this and has acquired a certain resilience. “It would be a matter of... starting from scratch,” concludes the young man, whose last moments in the country could be.