Inside a cramped conference room at Fresno City Hall, a couple from Peru with their 10-month-old daughter recounted the arduous 2 1/2-month trek that took them from Lima to the U.S./Mexico border.
“We crossed nine countries from Peru,” Jose Morales, 25, told The Fresno Bee in an interview and speaking through an interpreter. He was interviewed along with partner Katherine Rojas, 23, as she held their daughter Danna.
The family are among nearly 20 people – all but one originally from Venezuela – exported by bus out of Texas and eventually to Fresno after seeking asylum in the United States. The immigrants were sent first to Denver, and then dropped off in Fresno last week. They and the others, including two other families and a collection of adults, find themselves caught in a political crossfire between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over immigration and border policy.
Their 21/2 month path took them through Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico before they arrived at Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, where they surrendered to U.S. immigration officials and applied for asylum.