Venezuelan migrant prepares to say goodbye to his pet SQUIRREL he adopted as a baby, as he arrives at US border that’s experiencing its latest surge of illegal crossers
A Venezuelan migrant prepares to say goodbye to a squirrel he adopted as a baby as he completes his journey from his home country to the U.S. southern border.
Yeison, 23, and his squirrel, Niko, have traversed some of the most hostile environments, from Venezuela to the Mexico-US border, and have been inseparable since the little rodent was first born.
As an appointment booked by Yeison to enter the US and seek asylum draws closer, the couple who have been each other’s beacons throughout the arduous journey will make the difficult decision to part ways as animals generally cross the border are not allowed to cross.
“It would practically be like starting from scratch, without Niko,” Yeison said. The young asylum seeker says he does not want to part with Niko, but admits that this may be necessary due to the strict rules for bringing live animals and plants into the United States.
Yeison and his pet Niko migrated from Venezuela to the US and remained inseparable, but due to the country’s immigration laws, Niko will now be left behind at the Mexican border
Although there is little chance that Yeison will be allowed to bring his beloved pet across the border, all hope is not lost
Many who embark on the roughly 2,500-mile journey to the U.S. do so only with what they can carry and their loved ones.
For Yeison, it was a squirrel with a black stripe and white hair patches, which made the long journey while snuggled in a red knitted hat stuffed into a backpack.
For six months, Yeison and Niko lived in a tent in an encampment with hundreds of other migrants in Matamoros.
The site is across from the Texas border town of Brownsville, which is hundreds of miles east of Eagle Pass and is not experiencing the same dramatic increase in migrants that prompted the mayor to issue an emergency declaration last week.
Although the chances of bringing Niko to the US are slim, volunteers in the camp don’t give up.
Gladys Cañas, the director of a non-governmental organization, Ayudándoles A Triunfar, said she has encountered other migrants wanting to cross with their pets – cats, dogs and once even a rabbit. But until now I had never seen a squirrel.
Cañas helped Yeison connect with a veterinarian to document Niko’s vaccinations to border agents.
She is hopeful that they will allow the squirrel to cross, either with Yeison or a volunteer.
“There is such a strong bond between him and the squirrel that he took it with him rather than leave the squirrel with family in Venezuela and face the dangers of the migrant journey,” she said.
He found the newborn squirrel after almost stepping on him one day and decided to take him home
Along with thousands of migrants, the pair found themselves at a site opposite the border town of Brownsville, Texas, living in a tent
‘They gave each other courage.’
Yeison said he found the squirrel after almost stepping on it one day in Venezuela.
The squirrel appeared newborn and Yeison took him home, where he named him Niko and relatives gave him yogurt.
The picky squirrel, Yeison says, prefers to nibble on pine trees and be fed tomatoes and mangoes, even in times when food is hard to come by.
Initially, Yeison said he was looking for work in Colombia. He returned to find a loose pine splinter in Niko’s eye and then decided to take the squirrel with him on the next trip to the US.
Like thousands of migrants, Yeison made the journey through the dangerous jungle known as the Darien Gapwhere he said he found a man’s body under some blankets.
He said he hid Niko in a backpack as they boarded buses and passed through checkpoints in Mexico.
But one time, Yieson said, a bus driver discovered the squirrel and made him pay extra to keep the animal on board, and he had to sell his phone for $35 to cover the costs.
Once she got the encampment in Matamoros, the couple settled into a routine. Yeison earns money cutting hair at his tent and often falls asleep at night sharing the same pillow with Niko.
‘I don’t want him to be separated from me because I know we would have heartache. I’m sure of that,” Yeison said.
Migrants from Venezuela are seen wading through the Rio Grande to arrive at Eagle Pass on September 15
Border agents say criminal gangs are “taking full advantage” of the escalating crisis by stepping up their human trafficking efforts. Above is a group of 49 who were found in a ‘poorly ventilated trailer’. They came from Guatemala and Honduras
Migrants were photographed wading across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras to Eagle Pass last week
“If he doesn’t get sick, I hope he becomes happy and never forgets my face.”
It comes as the Biden administration curtailed strategies to control migration as the number of unauthorized border crossings increases in the Southwest.
The number of migrants apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in a single day was estimated to approach 9,000 on Wednesday, according to preliminary data.
Rural areas in southern Arizona, including the greater Tucson region, and in southern Texas, have seen large increases in migration.
Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Wednesday “rapidly vetted and processed” about 2,500 migrants taken into custody at the border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Enforcement included shutting down rail and vehicle traffic at multiple border crossings in the area.
CPB officials resumed work early Saturday at the International Railroad Bridge in Eagle Pass, the agency said in a statement.
According to the latest CBP data, U.S. Border Patrol made 181,059 apprehensions along the southern border in August, up from 132,648 in July.
In the southwest, migrants were arrested or detained more than 232,000 times, the highest number since December last year.
According to the data, authorities encountered migrants more than 300,000 times across the country last month, up from 245,213 in July.
The record numbers mark the largest monthly total ever recorded during the Biden administration.