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SAO PAULO, Brazil: Among the many hundreds of migrants who attempt to attain the border between Mexico and the US each month, the presence of Muslims — most of whom go away African and Asian nations searching for a greater future — is each conspicuous and fixed.
There are not any official figures about Muslim migrant flows by way of the Latin American route, however organizations that help immigrants within the area report that their numbers have been rising.
They not solely face the same old hardships of the journey north, such because the exploitation by coyotes, but in addition particular difficulties, together with spiritual prejudice all alongside the way in which and obstacles regarding the observance of their religion.
One of many essential gateways for Muslim immigrants and refugees in Latin America, Sao Paulo, has been receiving folks from Southeast Asia, the Center East and African nations over the previous years.
“I estimate that 20 p.c of all folks welcomed by us in 2020 had been Muslim,” mentioned Fr. Paolo Parise, who heads a Catholic immigrant heart known as Mission Peace in Brazil’s largest metropolis.
Parise mentioned that a lot of the Muslim foreigners assisted by the establishment come from nations like Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, in addition to some teams from the Center East.
“Now we have additionally not too long ago welcomed folks from Afghanistan,” he added.
These migrants and refugees have historically considered Brazil as a rustic of transit, particularly over the previous 5 years, a interval marked by financial decline and shrinking alternatives.
“They enter Brazil with vacationer visas and later they request a refugee standing,” Parise mentioned.
After just a few months, most of them attempt to get into the US, utilizing the standard routes utilized by Haitians, Venezuelans and different teams.
However each route abounds with obstacles and disappointments. As of July 2021, 70 p.c of asylum requests made in Mexico had been concentrated within the border city of Chiapas, which receives day by day flights of individuals expelled from the US underneath Title 42 laws.
The general public well being order, issued in March 2020 by the Trump administration, justifies the expulsions on the grounds that there’s a communicable illness, particularly COVID-19, within the migrant’s nation of origin.
Think about the case of Ghanian-born Ahmed Usman, 34, now a resident within the Mexican metropolis of Tijuana, on the border with the US. Usman lived in Brazil for one 12 months and eight months.
“I labored in a manufacturing unit in Criciuma (a metropolis within the South of Brazil). After paying my hire and utilities and sending a bit of cash to my household, I had no cash left,” he advised Arab Information.
Criciuma has a small Muslim group, however Usman mentioned he acquired extra assist from Christians.
In 2016, he determined to move to the US and started a protracted journey by way of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala, till he arrived in Mexico.
“We lacked cash. We noticed many individuals getting sick and dying alongside the journey,” he mentioned, exhaustion and disbelief in his eyes.
Usman spent eight months in Costa Rica, the place he was helped by a Catholic church and a mosque within the metropolis of San Jose.
“We had been additionally helped by a person who would feed us many instances. And he understood that we didn’t eat pork,” he mentioned.
In 2017, he lastly arrived in Mexico. He ended up discovering work in Tijuana and has not tried to cross the border till now.
Usman’s story is just like these of many different determined individuals who head to Mexico, more and more seen as a rustic of transit and asylum.
In 2014, 2,100 folks arrived within the nation to request refugee standing; in 2019, that had risen to greater than 70,000.
The figures dropped in 2020, as journey restrictions imposed on account of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed world migration however, between January and November 2021, the nation acquired greater than 123,000 asylum requests from folks coming from the Caribbean and Central American and South American nations, similar to Haiti, Honduras, Cuba, El Salvador, Chile, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil and Colombia.
Usman’s narrative can also be instance of the plight of Muslim migrants alongside the Latin American route.
Most of them discover little help among the many Islamic group and should depend on the help given by Catholics or civic organizations.
“Most Muslim communities within the area see these immigrants as rivals or as an issue. A few of them have assets to assist them however choose to keep away from what they see as hassle,” mentioned Moroccan-born Sheikh Abderrahman Agdaou, who lives in El Salvador and has intervened in lots of immigrants’ instances in recent times.
On a number of events, Agdaou helped Uighur, Syrian and Iraqi refugees who lacked the required paperwork to proceed travelling to the US, coordinating help with Catholic entities and the UN.
He additionally needed to give help to former Guantanamo jail inmates, who obtained refugee standing in El Salvador because of his help.
“As soon as, a Syrian household with 4 youngsters was taken to El Salvador by a coyote and was deserted there on the airport. The particular person simply disappeared, and they didn’t know what to do,” he mentioned.
Agdaou mentioned he intervened and assisted the household in going again to Syria.
FASTFACTS
As of July 2021, 70% of Mexico’s asylum requests had been concentrated within the border city of Chiapas.
Chiapas receives day by day flights of individuals expelled from the US underneath Title 42 public-health order.
Title 42 justifies expulsions on the grounds there’s a communicable illness within the migrant’s nation of origin.
In response to him, Islamic organizations supply extra help to immigrants and command extra affect in comparatively well-off nations with giant Muslim communities, notably Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
“However in lots of nations, Muslims really feel like they’re foreigners and so they need to not meddle in politics,” he mentioned.
Agdaou desires regional Islamic entities to enhance the extent of coordination between them and civic organizations that help immigrants.
Different issues appear to be of a extra critical nature. Some immigrants belonging to sub-Saharan nations reported that they felt discriminated in opposition to by Arab Muslims who head mosques in Latin American nations.
With so many difficulties, most Muslim immigrants find yourself trying to Catholic establishments for humanitarian help alongside the way in which.
“We don’t welcome so many Muslims in Latin America as our European counterparts do in Europe, however numerous them regularly go by our shelters on the path to the US,” mentioned Elvy Monzant, the manager secretary of the Catholic Church’s Latin American and Caribbean Community on Migration, Refugees and Human Trafficking.
Monzant advised Arab Information that Catholic immigrant homes attempt to respect Islamic traditions and are pleased to welcome Muslims.
Most of them are cautious with meals prohibitions and a few of them even have particular rooms for his or her prayers.
“However we would make undesirable errors in our work with them. So, locations managed by the Muslim group might make them really feel higher,” Monzant mentioned.
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