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The more I speak to migrants, the more it becomes evident: Their destination is not Laredo. That’s been the case in every other border region I’ve reported from recently, too.
Migrants and asylum seekers are coming through these border towns in their journey to reach family members and acquaintances in other Texas cities and beyond in other states.
Darwin Alexander Avila and his son, Oscar, crossed into the US less than a week ago after an arduous journey from Honduras. Their destination is Atlanta, Georgia, where a friend lives.
I ask if he’s seen the city at all since he got here. “Just the convenience store and petrol station down the street,” Avila says in Spanish.
His journey through Laredo is almost invisible to residents here.
“Most people who have endured a journey through Mexico don’t want to stay in a border community because we are so similar culturally to Mexico,” says Michael Smith, who runs a shelter in Laredo that services migrants.
He adds that migrants and asylum seekers who often leave their home countries because of economic pressures usually have their eyes on the “bright lights” of big cities, where family members are and where they know they can eventually find higher paying manual labour, if allowed to stay in the country.