Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make to the U.S.

About 90 migrants exit Las Tecas migrant camp early in the morning to enter the Darién Gap jungle on their way north led by guides on Nov. 6, 2021, in Acandí.

2022年3月10日

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make to the U.S.

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade. Their journey traversed unexpected parts of the Americas, including the treacherous Darién Gap.

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Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make to the U.S.

Houston Chronicle

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3月10日

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Babies crying — a lot of ppl at the border camp are families w young children. A volunteer who runs a respite center said she’s seen many pregnant women as well. Some w medical emergencies have been taken to the hospital. (sound up)

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In many ways this journey began more than a decade ago -- after the 2010 earthquake (which displaced 1.5 million ppl). Tens of thousands of Haitians started moving to Brazil & Chile. But many journeys didn’t end there…

The 66-mile Darién Gap is a mountainous and heavily forested stretch of land that joins South and Central America. There are no roads, hospitals or electricity. There are armed groups, venomous animals, flash flooding, disease and death.

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Migrants cross the Río Muerto as they and other migrants enter the Darién Gap jungle on their way north led by guides, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, in Acandí.

But for many, a chance at life in the U.S. is worth it. In 2021, some 83,000 Haitians hiked this difficult terrain. Dozens did not make it out alive.

@MarieDennise

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Migrants are transported via carriage through muddy terrain in Acandí on their way to Las Tecas camp where they will spend the night before heading to Panama via the Darién Gap the following day. About 90 migrants stayed over night, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, in Acandí.

Once a low-key beach town for Colombians, Necoclí has since become an unexpected hotspot for Haitian migration. It’s now a place for migrants to soak in modern-day comfort and stock up on supplies before the harder days ahead.

houstonchronicle.com

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make in search of a home

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade.

From Necoclí, migrants take boats across the Gulf of Urabá to Acandí. Those who can cough up the cash hitch a ride on horse-drawn carts up the muddy hills to Las Tecas camp, where migrants sleep before they begin the roadless trek through the Darién Gap.

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(Top from left) A migrant looks out of his tent at Las Tecas camp getting ready to pack up his things to leave the camp and trek the Darién Gap on his way to the United States on Nov. 6, 2021, in Acandí. Migrants sleep inside tents under the stars at the Las Tecas camp as they rest before their arduous trek through the Darién Gap into Panamá the following day. (Bottom from left) A cooking pot blows steam at the migrant camp known as Las Tecas. Venezuelan migrants, Jesus Fernandez, 24, and his cousin Carlos Fernandez, right, gather with other Venezuelan migrants for dinner at the Las Tecas camp, Nov. 5, 2021, in Acandí. Several in the group knew each other because they were neighbors back in their native Venezuela.

Panama’s official migration stats indicate around 100,000 Haitians + their kids who are

Chilean and

Brazilian nationals were detected at the southern border — nearly 3x the number of people that made the same odyssey during the past 10 years.

houstonchronicle.com

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make in search of a home

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade.

And it’s not just Haitians. Some have traveled shockingly far from home countries like

Bangladesh and

Uzbekistan. A small but increasing number of Africans have been crossing through this region as well, according to

@MigrationPolicy

houstonchronicle.com/projects/2022/

The journey is arduous. Lilia Córdoba remembers one woman who was traveling alone with her two daughters, around ages 3 and 5, who insisted on continuing her journey through the Darién Gap.

houstonchronicle.com

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make in search of a home

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade.

Córdoba later learned the mother died along the path. “And these girls? Nobody is going to claim them.”

@MSF_USA

said migrants reported 328 incidents of sexual violence and 86 cases of other types of violence from April 2021 through December.

houstonchronicle.com

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make in search of a home

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade.

But the forest can also be a place for small miracles. Colombian guide Andres Aristizabal Meza beamed as he revealed a photo of a woman lying on the ground in a tent — she had just given birth. “It was crazy; it was beautiful.”

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A woman laying on the ground in a tent – she had just given birth in Las Tecas camp.

If Jean Sony Eugene had known the journey would be this dangerous, he never would have sold off his belongings in Chile and risked the lives of his wife and unborn daughter to come to the U.S.

houstonchronicle.com

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make in search of a home

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade.

Eugene still finds it difficult to talk about what he saw in the forest — the murders, robberies, crying. The families forced to leave loved ones behind and forge ahead.

“Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans … I saw a lot of dead people on that route.”

houstonchronicle.com

Inside the brutal 10,000-mile journey Haitian migrants make in search of a home

Last year, the arrival of some 16,000 Haitian migrants to the border town of Del Rio made for one of the most surprising immigration stories of the decade.