Cristhian Mancera Mejia, CEO of Servicolex, a migration services advisory company, explains the current situation of migrants and the pros and cons of the way they migrate from the country.
What is the current situation of migrants in the United States?
There has been a 70 percent reduction in the number of migrants in the month of June compared to the month of August, an enormous volume of Colombians have stopped entering the United States irregularly.
What is the most difficult thing when entering illegally?
The high costs of food and housing rents in the United States make this irregular migration very complex.
In addition to the fact that many states have intensified their anti-immigrant measures to protect work and living conditions, since they see it as something wrong when they are done irregularly.
Do they see it as a threat?
Especially the republican states see the entry of almost 8 million migrants as a threat, since people of different nationalities, including Colombia, have taken to their streets crimes such as rapazo and robbery, and that generates a lot of discontent.
What are the nationalities with the highest number of migration?
Venezuelans are the ones with the highest number of migration.
Colombians have been on the decline.
Is illegal migration a real path?
Entering the United States illegally is risky, it does not create any path to a permanent residence since once you enter illegally and want to legalize you will need a pardon without which you will never be subject to an immigration benefit.
Is asylum still an acceptance case?
Yes, Colombians who have a case of persecution or security issues that they can prove, are people who can undergo the CBP1 interview and can demonstrate that there is a real visible risk that allows them to receive an exception visa to be able to enter the United States.
This way they will have a work permit and receive their asylum application.
What should a person who wants to migrate to the US take into account?
When we talk about what a person must do to migrate, the first thing is to know that they must do it in an orderly and responsible manner, it is the motto that we at Servicolex have been working on.
That implies preparing very well, knowing the laws, culture and language of the country.
What should you do to take a proper route?
First is to find out which visa you apply for, because they want to leave no matter what without even looking at how the situation is resolved.
It is good to evaluate which countries can receive it, with which visa, which countries have programs for temporary workers, because that does not imply leaving the country permanently and leaving the family, there are even those who sell everything and lose it because they can never locate themselves .
Is the American dream real?
Many people who do it illegally end up living the American nightmare.
Sometimes they are fine in their country, they have a good job and they go to seek luck in the US thinking that the silver is collected under the trees in US territory, which is not true, because a wrong idea has been sold of that American dream.
Now accessing that dream irregularly is practically impossible because the ways that allow a person to locate themselves become much more difficult when entering that way.
What should be considered before deciding to migrate illegally?
When you cross the border illegally and are deported you will be prevented from entering the United States for up to 10 years and if you try again you will be deprived of your liberty.
Is the Darién the arrival route?
Definitely not, the road through the Darién is not the route to do it responsibly.
Very possibly they will be victims of abuse, prostitution, robbery and many more dangers to fulfill a dream that, as I said, can become a nightmare.
Clearly there are mechanisms to do this on a regular basis through a tourist, work or investor visa because this sets you on a path to responsible residency.
If you leave irregularly, does getting married guarantee the visa?
Irregularly it will always be difficult to access a residence.
It is not going to work for her to marry an American citizen because she is going to have to ask for forgiveness, then she must leave the United States and come to Colombia to wait for an appointment at the consulate to see if they approve her re-entry into North American territory.
It is a complex process.
It is important not to fall into the hands of people who offer lying visa applications and who charge large sums of money to finally not receive any visa.
The best advice you can give?
You have to do homework.
Find out where you want to go, look at all the options, for example, Canada also offers good alternatives, learn the language, the culture, see how to adapt to life in the country without being a burden to the system by contributing and contributing.
In this way, we are going to strengthen the enclaves of Colombians abroad, contributing and contributing so that the disastrous process of irregular migration is not perpetuated, but that they do it well and can send remittances to their families, develop their region.
About Servicolex
This organization is made up of Colombians who offer services to the community on issues of emigration, adaptation, entrepreneurship and economic development in the regions from which migrants leave without taking personal advantage for vested interests.
It is an organization created with the purpose of providing services to the Colombian and Latino community both in Colombia and abroad, including migrant communities from various countries, but fundamentally to Colombians residing abroad.
Provide immigration legal assistance
Adjustment of Status, Asylum Applications, Consular Processing, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Employment Authorization, Employment-Based Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Petitions, Family-Based Petitions, Naturalization/Citizenship, Status of Temporary Protection (TPS), U visas, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions.
It operates in the US, Colombia, Panama and Mexico.
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