Family offered a cell phone, hair iron and money from selling their motorcycle to “muchileros” guides who led them through the jungle where they passed bodies of migrants who perished a…
Keila and her husband Keiner with their young daughters Sophia, 10, Sinay, 5, Thailyn, 6, made the unthinkable journey to the United States that spanned more than 7,100 miles by foot, plane, train, and bus that landed them in San Jose last month.They asked that their faces not be shown or last names published. They walked and hitchhiked, rode buses and boats and sneaked onto a freight train.
Keila recounted her family’s ordeal in an exclusive interview with the Bay Area News Group at a San Jose motel where her family is staying while local officials and community groups try to help them find work and housing and apply for asylum. They asked that their faces not be shown, last names published or location revealed, fearing deportation. Though much of her account could not be independently verified, she shared cell phone images taken along the way depicting their journey.
“For me, the most difficult thing was the jungle,” Keila said in Spanish to a bilingual photojournalist, “because I was afraid that they were going to kill us, rape us, or a river would overflow .” To escape Venezuela, they had to avoid detection by authorities and ended up hitchhiking in cars and trucks on their way to neighboring Colombia, ducking low in the seats so they wouldn’t be seen. There, they would meet up with others making the same journey.
They passed the bodies of travelers who’d died on the journey, and tents and packs abandoned by migrants forced to lighten their load. After their first day, they ran out of food and spent a full day hiking without anything to eat. Keila said their girls were tired and starting to wear down. They walked to a dump site north of the city where they were able to climb aboard a freight train — dubbedThe family rode an open-topped gondola car filled with coal, with the girls lying on a tent under a makeshift sunshade. Still, danger lurked ahead. Gang members from a cartel stopped their train and tried to rob the migrants aboard.They rode the train all the way to Ciudad Juarez, which lies across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas.
Keila and her husband Keiner with their young daughters Sophia, 10, Sinay, 5, Thailyn, 6, have temporary housing in San Jose after a long, difficult journey to the United States from their home in Venezuela that spanned more than 7,100 miles by foot, plane, train, and bus.They asked that their faces not be shown or last names published.
When they arrived in San Jose, the office of the community group they were told would help was closed. A woman in the neighborhood saw them wandering the streets looking lost and connected them with the community group Amigos de Guadalupe, which has since put them up at a motel. A local Christian group reached out to connect them with church services, and neighbors helped Keila’s husband, Keiner, find seasonal work at construction sites.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
100 Club of San Antonio helping heal police officers who survived northeast side shootingThe suspect eventually surrendered to police.
Leer más »
Billionaire Silicon Valley developer John A. Sobrato offers up San Jose property for homeless sheltersThe 75 tiny home shelters in South San Jose are expected to be finished by the middle of next year.
Leer más »
Two arrests made in connection to South San Jose armed robberyTwo people were arrested in connection to a series of robberies in San Jose, police said.
Leer más »
San Jose’s BART extension to get oversight group after major price jump, timeline delayGroup will come back with recommendations by 2025 and also dig into the project’s finances.
Leer más »
Pair arrested in series of San Jose robberiesTwo suspects have been arrested in connection with a string of robberies in San Jose, according to police.
Leer más »
San Jose man charged in fentanyl death of 3-month-old childDavid Anthony Castro has been charged with child neglect after his infant daughter was found unresponsive among scattered drugs in a South San Jose home in May.
Leer más »