Jaime Betancourth and his son, Owen, at the Iowa City Catholic Worker House on June 20. (Contributed/Emily Sinnwell)
IOWA CITY — Jaime Betancourth made the long journey from Honduras to the United States with his 9-year-old son, Owen.
When he and Owen crossed the border for the first time, they were detained by a Border Patrol agent less than an hour after arriving.
“The first time I crossed, I thought I’m going to knock on the door of the United States to ask for help. To ask for a chance to come in,” Betancourth said through an interpreter.
But he and his son were sent to Mexico.
“The moment that they send you back is the hardest moment. You come with the idea that you’re going to be able to cross, and ask for asylum,” he said. “When you get sent back, it’s a low moment.”
He said economic conditions and the threat of violence in Honduras left him with no other option than to make the difficult trek. Betancourth, 39, is a single parent to his son.
He spent long days waiting in Mexico with his son, hoping for a way out. Betancourth and his son finally were able to secure passage into the United States with help from the Iowa City Catholic Worker House. Betancourth’s brother connected him with the Iowa City organization, which provides aid and assistance to refugees.
He and his son arrived May 22 to the house in Iowa City.
Restrictions placed on immigration due to the pandemic have made entering the United States more difficult. Iowa City Catholic Worker House has enrolled 28 refugee families in a lawsuit contesting their expulsion over restrictions. Ten of those families have been admitted to the United States, and four are living in Iowa City.
The policy, enacted at the beginning of the pandemic, means most asylum-seekers arriving in the United States are expelled over concerns they may spread the virus.
Clara Long, associate director with Human Rights Watch, said the Biden administration has largely maintained this policy, though there is now an exemption process for children and those who are seen as vulnerable.
“They’ve created an exemption process through a set of (nongovernmental organizations) who are doing that work identifying people who are vulnerable who are being flagged as people who can come into the U.S. and exercise their right to seek asylum,” she said.
Long said very few people who are expelled after attempting to seek asylum will be connected with organizations like Iowa City Catholic Worker.
“It’s a tiny minority of the people who need help,” she said. “It’s not at all responding to the need of people.”
Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protections shows a sharp increase in expulsions from March 2020 onward.
In April, a flight with at least 19 migrant children arrived in Des Moines, where some children were taken to be reunited with sponsors in the area. Gov. Kim Reynolds has called for an investigation into the flight.
Betancourth and other refugees who have come to Iowa through the help of the Catholic Worker House are not involved in the flight.
He says he hopes for his son to be able to get a good education in the United States and plans to work to help support his mother still in Honduras.
“The truth is we feel like we’re in our own home in the Catholic Worker House, and we don’t lack anything we need,” he said.
Deylin Felipe Aleman Colindres, 27, arrived in Iowa from Honduras in June. A friend who worked in the same hair salon in Honduras had settled in Iowa, and connected Colindres to the Catholic Worker House, which helped him secure passage into the United States.
A two-day bus journey brought him from the border town of Roma, Texas, to Iowa City.
“I just couldn't believe it — when I was on the bus here, I felt like I was dreaming,” he said. “I thought to myself a dream can’t last that long.”
He says he hopes to start working soon and building a future, and wants to have children someday.
Still, for both Betancourth and Colindres, leaving family behind in Honduras is heart-wrenching.
“More than anything [leaving] my mom — It’s something really difficult — it’s terrible. It’s almost like a death kind of,” Colindres said.
Comments: (319) 368-8827; rylee.wilson@thegazette.com
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