Colombian migrant in the US narrates the fear of being raided: “We are surviving”

Get raided, get captured, treated like a criminal and deported from the United States It is a thought that has not managed to leave the head of a Colombian immigrant, whom we will call ‘Nicolás’.

“Yes, we are a little afraid of what might happen. “We are afraid that they may return us.”said the young man.

He arrived in the United States about two years ago. He did not enter illegally, he did so with a student visa, but he really traveled with the intention of staying and working. He is not even remotely a criminal, but by violating his immigration status, which does not allow him to work in that country, he knows that he could be a target for the authorities.

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And since Donald Trump took office on January 20 for his second term as president of the United States, he signed a series of immigration laws that have already resulted in more than 500 arrests of so-called illegal immigrants and the expulsion of dozens of them from the country. .

‘Nicolás’ narrated what has happened in the recent week and why he has been so uneasy.

“I was very calm until two days ago when I spoke with another friend, who is also a student and is also a waitress, and she told me: ‘Hey, I’m worried because in Maryland they’ve already raided restaurants,’ which we thought “Being waiters we would be half protected, and no.”

‘Nicolás’ is afraid that something like what happened in a warehouse in New Jersey will happen to him, where the immigration agency ICE Immigration and U.S. Customs Enforcement) arrived without any type of court order to conduct a search and He detained not necessarily criminals, but even an American citizen who was even a veteran. Hence the claim of the mayor of Newark.

“None of these people were rapists, murderers or criminals,” said Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

‘Nicolás’ made a radical decision

‘Nicolás’ does not want to reach that stage in which feel their rights have been violated and that is why he made the determination to return to Colombia and leave his job behind before it was too late.

Asked if what is happening is unfair, ‘Nicolás’ emphasized: “Totally, We are not doing anything illegal, we are just surviving. and, at the end of the day, if the concern is the economy, we are contributing to the United States economy.”

Since Trump took office 538 illegal immigrants have been detained. This Friday, January 24, the first deportation flights left on military planes with 79 Guatemalans, who were repatriated.