A 22-year-old mom-to-be trekked more than 2,500 miles from her home in Venezuela to the US-México border – then hopped on a bus to New York City in hopes of a “stable life” for her and her unborn child.
By New York Post – Georgett Roberts and Evan Simko-Bednarski
Aug 17, 2022
Now, their lives are in limbo.
Verónica, who is six months pregnant with a baby boy, fled her politically torn homeland on July 22, enduring a 16-day schlep to the southern border and then a three-day bus ride across América – all alone.
“The journey was very difficult,” she told The Post through a translator Wednesday at Port Authority in Manhattan. “As I was traveling through different countries, many of them did not want to let us through and for me, expecting a child, that was very difficult.”
The young migrant, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of deportation, was among the hundreds of border-crossers who’ve been shipped to sanctuary cities like New York and Washington, DC by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as part of an ongoing political spat over President Biden’s border policies.
“When I arrived at the border, I got some basic medical attention,” Verónica said. “They told me I was at a risk of losing my pregnancy and may be having to have an emergency abortion and obviously that was very upsetting and so this was a very traumatic experience for me.”
The bus departed Texas on Aug. 7 and arrived in the Big Apple three days later – one of 15 buses carrying some 800 migrants that Abbott has shipped to the East Coast cities in recent weeks. The first busload of migrants arrived just days after New York City Mayor Eric Adams turned down the Texas governor’s invitation to visit the southern border to “see firsthand the dire situation” there.
“I’m looking to create a life here in New York, a stable life for myself and my child,” said Verónica, wearing a white “I Love NY” T-shirt over her burgeoning belly.
That hope, however, is now on hold as she waits for an October date to apply for asylum in immigration court – while holed up at a Manhattan homeless shelter.
She said she fears for the health of her unborn child.
“When I first arrived, the [people] that stepped up to provide things like food, clothing [and] water were groups of volunteers,” Verónica said, but the support waned as she came to rely on the shelter system.
“Beyond the physical space, I’m not receiving any kind of support for my soon-to-be-born child. I’m still searching for ways to support my child – things like diapers [and] food.”
The Texas Republican has called the Big Apple an “ideal destination” because of what he called the city’s generous treatment of homeless people – an assessment Verónica doesn’t share.
Verónica said she’d received little by way of food while at the shelter, beyond cans of tuna and ramen noodles.
She said the shelter has also asked her not to share its address, making it difficult to seek help from outside the system.
“What if I need additional help that the city can’t provide me, what if I feel a pain and want to ask someone I trust to come and visit me? Now I feel like I won’t be able to do that,” she said.
Verónica said she fled Venezuela in favor of the Big Apple while in her third trimester over the “crisis condition” in the economically ravaged country.
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Read More: New York Post – Pregnant migrant recalls ‘traumatic’ trek from Venezuela to NYC shelter
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