BOULEVARD, Calif. (AP) — Julia Paredes believed her move to the United States might be now or never. Mexico was days from requiring visas for Peruvian visitors. If she didn’t act quickly, she would have to make a far more perilous, surreptitious journey over land to settle with her sister in Dallas.
Mexico began requiring visas for Peruvians on Monday in response to a major influx of migrants from the South American country, after identical moves for Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Brazilians. It effectively eliminated the option of flying to a Mexican city near the U.S. border, as Paredes, 45, did just before it was too late.
“I had to treat it as a emergency,” said Paredes, who worked serving lunch to miners in Arequipa, Peru, and borrowed money to fly to Mexico’s Tijuana, across from San Diego. Last month smugglers guided her through a remote opening in the border wall to a dirt lot in California, where she and about 100 migrants from around the world shivered over campfires after a morning drizzle and waited for overwhelmed Border Patrol agents to drive them to a station for processing.
Station Provides Legal Aid, Services to Changchun Women
China's sees 11.81 mln inbound, outbound trips during Golden Week
Maradona buried as Argentina pays last respects to legend
Shenzhen Establishes Lawyers' Team to Protect Women, Children's Rights, Interests
Highlights of CBA 5th round match
New railway set to bolster connectivity, development
Book on Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law Published
Federation Improves Women's Rights
China's political advisors discuss foundations of food security