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Transcript/Script CENTRAL ASIAN MIGRANTS - Calderon
HEAD: More US-bound Migrants From Former Soviet Republics Arrive in Mexico
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: 08/14/2023 3:10P
BYLINE: Vicente Calderón
CONTRIBUTOR: Vicente Calderón
DATELINE: Tijuana, Mexico
VIDEOGRAPHER: Vicente Calderón, Victor Hugo Castillo
TRANSLATOR/VIDEO EDITOR: Veronica Villafañe
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA,
PLATFORMS: (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
SCRIPT EDITORS: KEnochs;
TRT: 2:43
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
UPDATE:))
((INTRO))
[[Despite efforts by the United States to curb migration, the flow of migrants at Mexico's northern border continues. But it’s not just migrants from Central and South American countries. Verónica Villafañe narrates this story by Vicente Calderón in Tijuana and Victor Hugo Castillo in Reynosa.]]
((NARRATION))
Men from Tajikistan in Central Asia, once a part of the Soviet Union, bound for the United States.
They are here in Mexico requesting asylum because of the war in Ukraine.
[[FOR RADIO: Fayoud is part of this group]]
((Fayoud, Asylum Seeker From Tajikistan))
"I want to go to America"
((NARRATION))
Immigration officials say they’re seeing more asylum seekers from post-Soviet countries.
The Mexican government reports the number of migrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan almost doubled from 2021 to 2022, and the numbers are still rising.
Reporter Ulanbek Asanaliev, who works for Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty's Uzbek service, set out to find out why and document their journey.
((Ulanbek Asanaliev, RFE/RL Uzbek Service))
"Sometimes they get in touch with criminals, cartels.”
((NARRATION))
Asanaliev learned that many of the asylum seekers had Russian citizenship and could have been conscripted to fight in the war in Ukraine. Instead, they chose to flee.
((Ulanbek Asanaliev, RFE/RL Uzbek Service ((male, English))
More than 1 million people from Kyrgyzstan, for example, they are working as [laborers] in Russia, and same as in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, you know. And after the war started in Russia, [the] situation changed."
((NARRATION))
Many of these migrants are making their way to the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Reynosa. Carlos Victor Peña Ortiz is the mayor of Reynosa.
((Carlos Víctor Peña Ortiz, Reynosa Mayor)) ((in Spanish))
"Many people from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and many other countries are now passing through this border. The migration flow continues to increase."
((NARRATION))
Most arrive first in Mexico City or Cancun before heading to border ports of entry.
But many of the migrants from post-Soviet countries in Central Asia don’t go to shelters seeking help, says Enrique Lucero, Director of Tijuana's Migrant Affairs Office.
((Enrique Lucero, Tijuana's Migrant Affairs Office)) ((male in Spanish))
"As in the case of Asia and Russia or those from Kazakhstan, people from all those regions are staying in hotels."
((NARRATION))
But for many, it took all they had to get here. Fayoud says it took him 4 months to make it to Mexico, hoping to get asylum in the United States.
((Fayoud, Asylum Seeker From Tajikistan))
"All my money finished for hotel. I don't have money for food. I don't have money."
((TAKE NAT-SOUND))
"Four? Four, yes. Four from Belarus? Belarus."
((NARRATION))
These four migrants are from Belarus, a Russian ally that shares a border with Ukraine.
((NAT-SOUND))
"Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan."
((NARRATION))
This man, part of a group of 25 people from Kyrgyzstan, hopes to make his way to a relative in the U.S.
((Migrant from Kyrgyzstan))
"Philadelphia. I have friends, I have a brother."
((NARRATION))
They join the thousands of others waiting at the border, hoping for safety and a new start in the United States.
For Vicente Calderon, in Tijuana and Victor Hugo Castillo in Reynosa,
Verónica Villafane, VOA News.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
in Tijuana, Mexico
Embargo DateAugust 14, 2023 17:09 EDT
Byline
Verónica Villafane, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
