CHARLOTTE — It was a harrowing journey.
One year ago, Eduardo and his family of 12 left their home in Venezuela for the United States. Over the course of a year, Eduardo and his family would make their way through Central America.
Videos provided by Eduardo to Channel 9 showed his family on a boat in a river in Panama. He and his family walked miles barefoot in muddy woods.
Eduardo and his family crossed the border on December 4 to seek asylum in the United States. He has been given a court date of October 2027 on the claim.
“It’s a journey that stays with you,” he said in Spanish. “From the moment we started the trip, it was traumatic for the children and for us to experience the dangers of each country.”
After crossing the border, Eduardo set his eyes on Charlotte. He said he heard Charlotte is a “good city for immigrants” with plenty of construction jobs.
He and his family paid for a bus from McAllen, Texas to Houston and then to Charlotte. After a 30-hour ride, they were dropped off near the Compare Foods on North Tryon Street with nowhere to go.
They lived on the streets of Charlotte and worked with the Latin American Coalition to find housing. Eventually, they were placed in an Airbnb.
Eduardo started a construction job on Wednesday.
Hundreds of migrant families have similar stories and are living in Charlotte.
Camino, a Charlotte organization that helps migrant families, has helped more than 400 families since May.
“We have seen an increase since the crisis at the border,” said Dr. Carolina Benitez, the clinical director of behavioral health at Camino. “More families and individuals have come to our organization and identify as new migrants lacking resources and lacking documentation.”
Benitez says the biggest issue right now is housing. She says groups try to avoid placing families in shelters. They turn to churches, Airbnbs and spare bedrooms. The Latin American Coalition has been given $2 million in Covid funds to assist with placement.
“We’ve done everything that we can up until this point and we’ve helped many families that are in great situations today,” she said. “But looking ahead, there’s still work for us to do.”
Work is something Eduardo is thankful for. But he’s nervous about the future. His time in the Airbnb is expiring and says he and his family of 12 are prepared to live on the streets again.
“It is worrying, the insecurity, the instability,” he said. “I don’t know what to tell my family.”
The immigration courts in this country, and Charlotte, are so backlogged because of the influx of migrants at the border. Eduardo’s asylum claim won’t be heard until October 2027.
Camino says right now they are managing the number of migrants coming to them for help but the biggest challenges remain housing and transportation.
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