Early in the morning, a line formed in front of the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico, in western Mexico City's upscale Polanco district. Some have been away from home for over a decade and now want to return. Many pursued the "American dream," as they call it, until Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, and the border closed.
"We're exhausted from this life; we want to see our families again," said Honorio Gutierrez, 29, carrying a two-year-old in his arms. "We stayed in Colombia for eight years, then took the road all the way to Mexico, much of it on foot, a little by bus." In late January, the family had indeed obtained an appointment to apply for asylum in the US on the US Customs and Border Protection's defunct application CBP One, canceled by decree on January 20. "We lost our plane tickets to Ciudad Juarez and stayed in Mexico City," added his 26-year-old wife.
No money, no ID
Yet they know they are among the lucky ones: The Venezuelan embassy put the child and his mother on an upcoming "humanitarian flight," which will repatriate free of charge and without passports migrants who have no money or identity papers – having either lost them along the way or never had any. But only two planes have taken off from Mexico City to Caracas since January 20, repatriating 553 people in total. Venezuela provides no figures on the number of repatriation requests, but the queue outside its embassy in Mexico is getting longer every day.
Osmin Chirinos arrived in Mexico City the day before and headed to the embassy as soon as he woke up. Unlike the others, he came from the US – he showed his Californian driver's license as proof. But after eight months in the land of the "dream," he became disillusioned, as he told the young Abraham he had just met, leaning against the embassy sign. "Delivery boy for a pittance, a bunk bed in a house with ten people for $600 [€556] a month, what kind of dream is this?" he asked. "I know many Venezuelans in the US who also want to return."
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