By Jose Gabriel Martinez and Wu Hao
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Under the harsh glare of the desert sun and the shadows of a hardened border, legions of migrants have been expelled from the United States in the past two weeks, crossing the Paso del Norte international bridge on foot into Ciudad Juarez, a border town in north Mexico's Chihuahua state.
For many, it marks the end of their "American dream" that motivated them to abandon their hometowns and head north. They suddenly find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances, confronting an uncertain future.
"More than a dream, I was living a nightmare," said Vladimir Clavijo, a 28-year-old Colombian, among those who were caught in an immigration raid.
"They carried out a kind of raid through all the streets. They didn't even ask. Just by looking at your face, they assumed you were an immigrant," he told Xinhua.
After spending almost three years in the United States, his arrest in Texas was rapid and ruthless. Without explanation, much less legal safeguards, he was put in a patrol car and driven to the border crossing.
"They didn't ask us what nationality we were or anything. They were just taking people out for the sake of it. The way they did it was humiliating," he said, adding that he now faced the uncertainty of returning to Colombia without documentation.
"They took my passport and never wanted to give it back to me," he said. Without identification, his journey home could be an arduous one.
Like Clavijo, hundreds of other migrants of different nationalities are deported daily into Mexico, a consequence of unilateral decisions by the current U.S. administration.
Such decisions often cause tension in Mexican border towns, straining the capacity of local services with a sudden influx of migrants. To prepare, the Mexican government is building temporary shelters in eight border towns, including Ciudad Juarez, to absorb the tens of thousands of expected migrants.
Mass deportation of migrants, one of U.S. President Donald Trump's main campaign promises, is now a key immigration policy to stem what he describes as an "invasion." Trump declared a state of emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border and deployed 1,500 army troops.
Since Jan. 20, the day Trump began his second term, U.S. authorities have stepped up raids and arrests in border cities such as El Paso, where Clavijo was captured.
The anti-immigrant rhetoric of the current U.S. government has reinforced discrimination and racial profiling in the United States.
Clavijo's experience attests to the hardening of immigration policy and growing social hostility. On many occasions, people who hired him refused to pay him, threatening to call immigration authorities if he insisted on getting paid.
Detention centers are being filled with migrants. Dominic Alfaro, originally from central Mexico's Michoacan state, recounted his experience at a center in El Paso before being deported to Ciudad Juarez.
"There were approximately over 1,000 people detained beforehand. They told us they were going to deport us by plane to Mexico City, but they expelled us through the land border crossing," he said.
A migrant who preferred to remain anonymous and was deported with Alfaro described his brief attempt to live and work in the United States. Asked if he would continue to pursue the "American dream," he said the dream had ended.
"I'm not going to try to cross again. It's not going to be possible right now."
For Clavijo, the so-called "American Dream" is now a thing of the past. "Dreams, hopes ... my car, they took it all from me." ■
