Photos: A Venezuelan family Christmas – from the US dream to poverty

Mariela Gomez would not have imagined Christmas this year.

Or the one that thousands of other American Venezuelan immigrants would have assumed. However, Donald Trump quickly ended their US dream by making a second appearance in January.

For the first time in eight years, Gomez found herself spending the holiday in northern Venezuela. She had a smile for her in-laws, prepared food, and gave her son a scooter. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to ignore the main problems facing returning immigrants: poverty and unemployment.

Instead of the traditional Christmas dinner of stuffed corn dough hallacas, Gomez said, “We had a modest dinner, not quite what we’d hoped for, but we did have food on the table.” Since we are unemployed, making hallacas here is a bit expensive, and we couldn’t afford to make them.

In response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, Gomez, her two sons, and her partner made a second home in Maracay on October 27 after crossing the US-Mexico border to Texas, where they were quickly swept up by US Border Patrol. They were taken to Mexico, where they began the dangerous journey back to Venezuela.

The family was unable to travel by boat across the Caribbean to Colombia after crossing Central America by bus. Instead of traveling the less expensive way along the Pacific’s choppy waters, they spent several hours sitting on top of sloshing gas tanks in a cargo boat before moving quickly to a fast boat until they reached a Colombian jungle region. They arrived at Venezuela’s border after about two weeks of detention before receiving their funds.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their country since the country’s economy has been damaged by a drop in oil prices, corruption, and mismanagement. Before deciding to move to the US in search of a new life, she spent years living in Colombia and Peru.

Rapid deportations

Many people like Gomez have lost hope as a result of Trump’s second term.

More than 14, 000 people from Venezuela, primarily from Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica, had already left the country as of September, according to data from Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica. Venezuelans were repeatedly deported to their home countries this year after President Nicolas Maduro abandoned his longstanding policy of refusing deportees from the US.

On flights operated by a US government contractor or Venezuela’s state-owned airline, immigrants regularly arrived at the airport outside the capital, Caracas. This year, over 13, 000 migrants took to the chartered flights.

Gomez saw her now-female daughter when she fled Venezuela’s complex crisis after returning there. Knowing that this might be their last chance to drink together for a while, Gomez’s daughter will move to Brazil next month, they conversed and drank beer over the holiday.

Gomez wants to work as well as make hallacas for New Year’s Eve. However, her thoughts on the upcoming year are primarily focused on good health.