Joshua Goodman, Eric Gay and David Martin teamed up to deliver a vivid and memorable account of a new migration trend: Venezuelan migrants appearing at the U.S. border with Mexico, particularly in Del Rio, Texas. Goodman, AP’s Miami-based Latin America correspondent, noticed the development and chased down the data showing that asylum-seekers are increasingly from countries other than Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil have become major sources of of the recent migration. Among the thousands of Venezuelans who have crossed the border illegally since January are many professionals, and many who had been living for years in other South American countries, part of an exodus of nearly six million Venezuelans since President Nicolás Maduro took power in 2013.
A Border Patrol agent watches as a group of migrants wade across the Rio Grande before turning themselves in at Del Rio, Texas, June 15, 2021. U.S. government data shows that 42% of all families encountered along the border in May hailed from places other than Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — the traditional drivers of migratory trends.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
Marianela Rojas, right, and Darcy Medina, center, pray and cry after turning themselves in after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at Del Rio, Texas, June 15, 2021. Two days after the AP witnessed Rojas' dramatic crossing, she was out of detention and rushing to catch a bus out of town. The 54-year-old recounted how a few years ago she was forced to flee hardship in western Venezuela, leaving behind a paid-off home and once solid career as an elementary school teacher for a fresh start in Ecuador.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
A group of migrants, who turned themselves in, wait for instructions from U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at Del Rio, Texas, June 15, 2021.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
A group of migrants, who turned themselves in, wait with U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at Del Rio, Texas, June 15, 2021.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
Migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and turned themselves in to authorities receive assistance at a respite center in Del Rio, Texas, June 16, 2021. In May, more than 7,000 Venezuelans were encountered along the U.S.-Mexico border, more than the previous 14 years on record combined.
AP Photo / Eric Gay
With deep reporting on both sides of the border, editing by Courtney Bonnell and compelling visuals from both San Antonio photographer Eric Gay and New York video journalist David Martin, the all-formats package adds new insight into the long-running political and economic crisis in Venezuela, the coronavirus’s impact on migration and the large increase in asylum-seekers encountered at the U.S. border under President Joe Biden. “It is better to wash toilets here than be an engineer over there,” one migrant told AP on camera.