Thousands of Cubans have left the island and are waiting in Juarez, Mexico, either for a chance to claim asylum in the United States or for a hearing with a U.S. immigration judge across the border.
A line forms daily at an office on the Mexico side of the border in Juarez, where those wishing to seek asylum in the United States put their names on a waiting list. Both U.S. and Mexican officials have denied responsibility for the lists, which exist in several cities along the border. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Cubans wait in line to have their names added to the unofficial list of those wanting to apply for asylum in the United States. Thousands of Cubans have left their home and are stuck in Juarez, Mexico, either waiting to claim asylum in the United States or for a hearing with a U.S. immigration judge across the border. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
More than 400 Cubans are camping in a park in Acuña, Mexico. Some have been waiting months for their names to come up on an unofficial list of those seeking to make asylum claims with U.S. officials at the port of entry, but officials recently told migrants the camp will soon be closed. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A Cuban man holds up his number after his name is called to cross the international bridge connecting Juarez, Mexico, with El Paso and to apply for asylum in the United States. Officials there will most likely return him to Mexico to await his first hearing with a U.S. immigration judge, something that could take another six months. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
A woman looks at her phone in an impromptu refugee camp in Mexico where she and others wait their turn to apply for asylum in the United States, sometimes for months. More than 400 Cubans are camping in a park near the U.S. border in Acuña, Mexico. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Cristina Ibarra, a Mexican woman, opened a Cuban restaurant in Juarez named Little Havana to cater to the thousands of Cubans now living in the border city. The Cubans are waiting months for a chance to claim asylum in the United States or for court hearings before U.S. immigration judges. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
A 24-year-old man from Bayamo, Cuba, said he spent weeks in detention in the United States before being sent back to Juarez, Mexico, to wait for a court date with a U.S. immigration judge. “The coyote told us he’d get us into the U.S., but it wasn’t correct,” he said. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A Cuban man tries to organize the few pieces of paper he got back after he was released from detention in the United States. He was among the first group of Cubans to be returned to Mexico to wait for their asylum cases to be heard in immigration court in El Paso as part of the Trump administration program known as Remain in Mexico. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
A Cuban man sits in the stairwell of a hotel in Juarez, Mexico, after he was released from immigration detention in the U.S. and returned to Mexico. He is among a group of Cuban men who are sharing a room in the hotel while they await immigration hearings. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
