From Mauritania to the USA, via Turkey, Central America and Mexico. The new route is all mapped out to illegally enter the land of Uncle Sam. Not without taking a lot of risks for young Mauritanians who engage in emigration. Not only do you have to spend a lot of money, but you can lose your life or be sequestered. 

On his fortieth birthday, Samba Fall decides to travel underground in search of a better life. “I left Mauritanian soil at 8:05 p.m. We were about twenty Mauritanians who boarded the plane that night. I bought the plane ticket for about two million ouguiyas. We flew six hours before landing at Istanbul Airport for a 13-hour stopover,” he says.

During the interview time via videoconference on Teams, the young man pauses from time to time, just to remember those long hours of flight. After the stopover, direction Bogota in the Eldorado for 13 hours of flight.

To reach the first destination of migrants: Nicaragua, it is necessary to make three other cities: Bogota, San Salvador and Managua. “That’s when everything changed,” says Samba. In his narrative, his haggard eyes stare at a distant horizon. He remembers those times when he despaired of hearing his parents’ voices on the phone. “It was hard,” he sighs. “When we arrived at El Dorado Intl airport in Bogotá, there was a law prohibiting Mauritanian passengers from making a stopover in San José. So, we had to change the flight plan and the time difference was lacking to contact travel agencies in Mauritania,” says our interlocutor. So, it was radio silence. “I was terrified,” he recalls.

“I took my rosary and started begging for God’s help. The situation will be settled a few hours later,” he confides, not without thanking God. “Alhamdulilah,” he recalls.

Samba was not yet at the end of his troubles. “Arriving at Nicaragua airport, we each paid 160 dollars for the residence permit and a 15-dollar apartment for 24 hours, where in the end, we will only spend 14 hours. Once this step is completed, migrant smugglers come to pick up the migrants in buses. They told us we were far from Mexico. And to continue the journey, we have to pay more money,” he says in his confidences.

Days of agony and $830 spent 

The hardest part of the journey. From Nicaragua to Tapachula, Honduras and Guatemala, you have to pay a total of $830. Days of travel, sleepless nights. The border between Mexico and the USA is more than 3000 kilometers long. Migrants enter through several doors. There are those who enter through Somaita, Arizona, among others. It should be noted that at many ports of entry, you have to pay. “But I was lucky not to pay. I entered through San Luis, Colorado,” says the young immigrant.

After a few tens of minutes, they see American soldiers disembarking in a bus to take the migrants ten kilometers away. They then put them up in a large campsite.

“In this campsite, we were treated like prisoners. We got rid of all our luggage. Passport, belts, clothes… All we had left was underpants, a shirt, pants and a jacket. Other than that, all our other stuff was thrown away. We were photographed and our fingerprints were also recorded,” says the Mauritanian. He specifies that there was a large table where there was food and drink. 50 people shared the same room. “It was like a prison.”

From Nicaragua to the United States, migrants spend weeks on buses. Sometimes some of them are imprisoned, others are taken hostage and others are blackmailed by smugglers. Before leaving the campsite to return to our correspondents, we give the migrants papers. “For me, for example, I was given a paper with an appointment and a phone. I was told that every week I have to take a picture of myself and send it to them.”