'What are we going to do?' Two migrants share fears for the future in Florida crackdown

TAMPA — It took four days and four nights for Brenda, a 36-year-old Guatemalan national, to cross the U.S. border illegally in September somewhere near Laredo, TX, to flee extortion from one of the most lethal gangs in Central America.

Now Brenda lives in Tampa, and is one of many undocumented immigrants targeted by new laws proposed in the Florida legislature that aim to obstruct the flow of illegal immigration to the state. Brenda, who was reluctant to share her last name, is afraid the policies could lead to her eventual deportation back to Guatemala and the dangerous circumstances that she desperately seeks to leave behind.

“It’s a scary feeling," Brenda said in Spanish. "You know what you are running from. If our country was peaceful and we could work, we wouldn’t make the decision to come here. Now you find the laws here, and you never know when someone is going to stop and deport you because you are an immigrant.”

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Brenda is not alone. More than 4.3 million immigrants have attempted to cross into the United States without documentation since January 2022, according to statistics compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drew national attention by sending nearly 50 Venezuelan nationals from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in a stunt meant to draw attention to concern over the amount of undocumented immigrants that eventually make their way to Florida.

Mercedes Cedeno, a 57-year-old Venezuelan national who used legal pathways to flee persecution in her country to Florida in 2015, said she understands the need to enforce immigration laws. But she would like to see more empathy for immigrants who have been forced to flee from dangerous circumstances at home.

“I understand that the country needs to improve its laws, but I wish the laws could be more sensible and see the human side of things," Mercedes said in Spanish. "They need to find balance, because not everybody that is coming is bad. The whole world isn’t bad. There are entire families that are risking everything to come here. It’s for a reason, it’s because we're desperate.”

This is the story of their journey to America as told to the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida. Brenda and Mercedes charted vastly different paths into the country, but find common ground in their fears for the future and their families back at home.

Brenda’s plight: Amid threats of violence, 'leaving your family is the price you pay to keep moving forward'

Brenda, the 36-year-old Guatemalan woman, now resides in the Tampa area after she made her way to Florida after crossing the U.S. border in Texas in September.

She is one of about 319,600 Guatemalan immigrants who have attempted to cross into the United States without documents since January 2022. She was fleeing from extortion from a dangerous gang known as the Maras, who would demand payment in exchange for operating a small store where she sold day-to-day goods like bread and basic groceries.

“I had a store, but regrettably I couldn’t operate it because I was being extorted,” she said. “I had to close because they were asking for a lot of money. I couldn’t keep risking my life or my daughter’s life, so I immigrated to the United States. I’m here because of that situation. I’m trying to solicit a permit to work, but only God knows what will happen.”

Brenda is among many Guatemalan store owners extorted under threat of violence against loved ones or death. Guatemala has been under a Level 3 "Reconsider travel" advisory by the U.S. Department of State since March 1 warning tourists of high risk of crime. The country is experiencing violent crime such as extortion, murder, armed robbery, carjackings, narcotics trafficking and gang activity.

“The Maras leave a phone for you, and they keep calling and calling you until you agree to give them money,” she said. “They tell you the place where you are going to leave it. Sometimes they only give you a couple of hours to go and drop it off. Then they start to leave you quotas so you pay every year. You run the risk of being killed if you don’t pay a quota. It’s happened a lot. You risk your life and your family's lives because they have you under their watch, they know where you go and who you talk to.”

Brenda said she plans to apply for legal authorization to live and work in the U.S., but fears the process will instead lead to her deportation back to dangerous circumstances at home.

“I decided to immigrate, but now that I’m here, the situation is complicated because it’s hard to find work," she said. "They ask you for documents and you don’t have them. But if we are here it’s because of necessity. If our country was peaceful and we could work we wouldn’t make the decision to come here. You have to leave. I left my daughter behind, but leaving your family is the price you pay to keep moving forward.”

Mercedes' journey: She found a legal pathway, but fears closing the door as 'Venezuelans are suffering'

Mercedes flew into Florida with an American Visa in 2015 to escape political persecution in Venezuela, and has used legal pathways to remain and work in the United States ever since.

She is one of more than millions of Venezuelan nationals who have fled the country to escape extreme poverty and persecution created as a result of complex international relations between the United States and the Venezuelan government.

Mercedes' family was persecuted by "Chavistas" who supported socialist policies of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013 just a couple of years before she fled the country. Chávez was replaced by Nicolás Maduro, who has held the office for the past decade despite claims of election fraud.

“The situation was dangerous when we left, but today things are so much worse,” she said. “You can’t live in Venezuela.”

“My husband is an attorney, and we didn’t agree with the politics in our country, so we were persecuted by “grupos Chavistas,” she said. "You can’t speak up, you have to say and act in the image that they want or you run the risk of being killed, of being violated, of getting beaten or disappearing. That’s the fear. Our people are fleeing to save their families, to survive. Venezuelans are suffering.”

Mercedes said that although she was able to find legal pathways to enter the United States, she said it is difficult for Venezuelans to find similar access today.

There has been a surge in the number of Venezuelan nationals who have attempted to cross into the United States illegally in recent years. There have been just over 284,000 encounters with Venezuelan nationals reported by CBP since January 2022, compared to just over 55,000 in 2020 and 2021 combined.

CBP reports 25,573 encounters with Venezuelan nationals in Florida in the first six months of this fiscal year, which is more than the combined 2,152 encounters reported over the past three entire years combined.

Mercedes said it has become more difficult for Venezuelans to apply for legal entry into the United States since the U.S. Embassy Caracas was shut down in 2019, making the embassy in Bogota, Colombia, the closest available to Venezuelan residents.

She believes legal pathways should remain open to immigrants who are fleeing persecution in their home countries, but indicated the government should remain selective to not inadvertently allow those dangers to make their way to the nation as well.

“There is a lot of good people in every country, but there are also bad people, and we need to be conscious of that too,” she said. “We fled our home because of those bad people. There are some people crossing that should not be allowed here. They need to get those people. They need to be selective, because there are bad people. It’s a complicated problem.”

Immigration pressure from all sides

New laws being considered by the Florida legislature aim to pressure undocumented immigrants away from placing roots in the state.

Federal authorities have reported a staggering 83,065 encounters with undocumented immigrants in Florida during the first six months of this fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics. That is more than the 69,595 contacts made in the state over the previous three fiscal years combined. There were 25,261 encounters in March of this year alone.

That is in addition to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who have been apprehended at the southwest border and have relocated to Florida after being released by federal authorities.

A federal judge ruled in Florida's favor on the matter in March in a lawsuit challenging federal "Parole and Alternative to Detention" immigration policies implemented by President Joe Biden. Florida argued that hundreds of thousands of those immigrants have been released into the state, causing a rise in the cost of public services, unemployment benefits and emergency medical care.

Legislators have indicated the laws aim to curb the flow of illegal immigration to the state by requiring employers of 25 or more employees to use E-Verify for new hires, expanding criminal penalties for human smuggling, and have included a $12 million one-time appropriation to the Division of Emergency Management for its Unauthorized Alien Transport program.

The legislation also prohibits local governments from funding the issuance of ID cards to undocumented immigrants and invalidates driver's licenses granted to them in other states. It also requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to collect immigration status data and report it to the Agency of Health Care Administration.

Advocates concerned over the legislation have voiced numerous concerns about the proposals, including apprehension that it could penalize those who transport immigrants who have been processed and released by federal authorities into the United States as part of the "Alternative to Detention" policies.

"If a person... was part of this catch and release program, then they would be the subject of this provision," State Rep. Dotie Joseph, D-Miami Dade, said during a news conference last week. "So the problem that became abundantly clear is one, they don't even understand who is legal and who is illegal under federal immigration law, and they are lumping people all together... That's problematic."

"They made no exemption for providers who have a federal contract to do exactly that, which is transport people to different places," she said. "There were no exemptions for emergency responders, hospital staff, churches and other providers, including family members."

The bills build upon two executive orders signed by DeSantis that direct state agencies to track undocumented immigrants by any legal means possible and quantify the cost of providing services to the population. It includes directives for shelters with federal contracts to house unaccompanied immigrant children to conduct welfare checks on children placed with sponsors, who are typically relatives, within the state.

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Jose Fernandez, Immigration and Citizenship Services program manager for the Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg, said the state's policies have had a chilling effect on many immigrants who are fleeing from dangerous circumstances to Florida only to find themselves as the target of a growing amount of legal restrictions.

“Florida is a state of immigrants,” Fernandez said. “Some people are coming to follow the opportunities here, others are fleeing from persecution in countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. A lot of people need a place to stay, food or medical attention, but their options are limited because they are undocumented. So they rely on relatives, friends, churches.”

“They’re scared,” he said. “They see the news and ask us, 'What they are going to do?'

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida illegal immigration crackdown: Meet 2 migrants who fear for future