Tajiks' American dream
According to data provided by Mexico in one year, the number of migrants trying to enter the United States illegally from Central Asia has doubled. Many are workers who have Russian passports and are fleeing to avoid being drafted and ending up on the front lines in Ukraine.
Dushanbe (AsiaNews) - The Mexican authorities have sounded an alarm over the continued rise in the number of migrants from Central Asia, and in particular from Tajikistan, who are trying to enter the United States illegally.
In 2022 they doubled compared to 2021, and this year the number is increasing further. Reporters from Radio Ozodi and Voice of America tried to get a first-hand look at the situation.
According to one of the correspondents, Ulanbek Asanaliev, migrants often turn to criminals and smugglers, realizing that trying to cross the border on their own puts them at risk of theft, assault, imprisonment in prison or even death on the street.
Many of the migrants have Russian passports, and have fled to Mexico for fear of being caught up in the war in Ukraine. Several million Tajiks, Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks usually go to Russia to seek income, and now they have to try to go somewhere else to survive, mostly in Europe or America.
Most migrants try to get to the US through the border areas around Tijuana and Reynosa; the mayor of the latter city, Carlos Ortiz, confirms the continuous growth of people who come from Tajikistan, but also from Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Many of them, before arriving at the borders, stop for days in Mexico City or Cancún. Tijuana Migration Service representative Enrique Lucero explains that asylum seekers from Asia, Russia and Central Asia usually ask to stay in hotels instead of tent cities, for fear of contagion, and therefore soon run out of cash reserves.
As the Tajik Fayoz recounts, "it took me four months to reach Mexico, passing through Turkey and going around Colombia, and in two weeks I ran out of money staying in the hotel, now I don't even have anything to eat".
Despite all the difficulties, many migrants continue to be optimistic about the possibility of realizing the "American dream", as the young Timur from Kyrgyzstan explains: "I want to get to Philadelphia, where my brother and several friends live".
According to the US Ministry of Internal Security, officially in the last 10 years there are about 15 thousand Tajiks who have obtained a residence permit for family ties, obtaining a Green Card, student and work visas. Not much lower figures concern the other Central Asian countries, but statistics on illegal immigrants are difficult to calculate.
The US embassy in Dushanbe said it had issued over a thousand entry visas to citizens of Tajikistan in the last year, a figure also confirmed by the Tajik embassy in the United States. The American consular services in the Tajik capital have been active since October 2022, while previously everyone had to refer to the consulate in Almaty in Kazakhstan.
The head of the consulate in Dushanbe, Todd Hughes, explains that in addition to those who have relatives in the US, with citizenship or permanent residence, it is possible to participate in the lotteries to obtain the Green Card, which are held annually on the initiative of the US State Department, and the winners are admitted to an interview with consulate officials to obtain a visa.
The opening of the consulate in Dushanbe was decided to celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations between the US and Tajikistan, an anniversary that greatly stimulated the desire of the Tajiks to reach America.
The consulate also offers "non-immigrant" visas, for tourism or visits, temporary work or business, and also for students, with an extensive program of exchanges between university institutes. Reception facilities for people belonging to sexual minorities have recently been added throughout Central Asia and Russia, after the passage of anti-LGBT laws and the intensification of discrimination.
As stated by the US ambassador to Tajikistan, Manuel Micaller, "our aim is to help the Tajiks find legal and safe ways to emigrate, and reduce their dependence on seasonal work in Russia, which today puts them at risk of being forced to participate in war actions in Ukraine… We are friends of Tajikistan”.
In the last twenty years, the United States has granted aid to Dushanbe for over two billion dollars, to collaborate in the sectors of security, training, agriculture and trade, as well as in the defense of the rights of the individual, women, in health and public education.
Photo: Flickr/Jonathan McIntosh
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