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By Lizbeth Díaz
Tijuana, Mexico (Reuters) – Naser Zazai, 29, had planned American army.
On the other hand, he is now stranded in Mexico after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, abruptly canceled on Monday all asylum appointments for migrants waiting in Mexico, including Zazai’s, scheduled for January 22.
The doctor is one of the thousands of immigrants who expected to begin their new life in the United States this week, only to be suddenly before the perspective of returning to their countries of origin, seeking refuge elsewhere or waiting indefinitely in Mexico.
But for Zazai and the dozens of other immigrants living in the Assabilian shelter in Tijuana, the only refuge of this type in Mexico specifically for Muslim immigrants, these options are even more gloomy.
“I can’t stay in Mexico,” said Zazai. “And I can’t return to my country, where they could kill me.”
In recent years, an increasing number of migrants from Asia, Middle East and Africa have begun to migrate through Mexico en route to the United States.
But Muslim immigrants face a series of additional challenges in Mexico, they say human rights experts, from idiomatic barriers to erroneous concepts about those who follow a religion with little presence in Mexican society.
According to 2020 census data, there are less than 8,000 Muslims living in Mexico, which represents less than 0.01% of the population.
“They have a very particular situation due to their culture and religion,” said Soraya Vázquez, from the human rights group on the other side. “There is a lot of stigma against the Muslim community.”
Many migrants who travel to Mexico from other continents with the hope of arriving in the United States have to pay the smugglers thousands of dollars for the long trips. This puts them at risk of extortion and violence, Vázquez said, especially if they cannot pay the large debts because they are trapped in Mexico.
Reuters spoke with five Afghan immigrants in Tijuana who were canceled their asylum appointments in the United States. Like Zazai, they said they could not return to Afghanistan, but that staying in Mexico also seemed a dangerous option.
“It was like a funeral here,” said Ahmed Tijani, deputy director of the Assabil Refuge, originally from Ghana, describing the atmosphere in the shelter on Trump’s first day in power. “No one could believe what happened.”
Zazai told Reuters that he left Afghanistan because he feared for his life after the Taliban returned to power, due to his brother’s links with the US army. He said that, on one occasion, armed men arrived and registered their home. Later, he said, unknown aggressors hit him until he was unconscious. Reuters could not verify its history.
He spent $ 22,000 to flee from the country and arrive in Mexico, where he waited almost six months to get his asylum appointment in the United States, he said.
His cancellation was part of Trump’s broader repression against immigration, which also included an order that suspended US refugee programs. That led to the flights of almost 1,660 Afghas authorized by the United States government to reset in the United States, including relatives of US military personnel in active duty.
Now, Zazai says he hopes to find another way of migrating to the United States, but knows that there are currently few options, if there is any.
“What is my plan for the future?” He wondered on Tuesday, when he understood the reality of his new circumstances. “I don’t know what to say”.
