From Eritrea to U.S.: Complex migration routes worry U.S. officials

He traveled to San Andres, a Colombian island in the Caribbean Sea, hoping to make it from there to Nicaragua. Without aid from smugglers, however, Tekle was arrested again. A $200 bribe secured his release, but the man he bribed kept Tekle’s South African passport.

A new smuggler agreed to take Tekle and about 20 other African migrants to Nicaragua by boat. Two other smugglers met them and put them on a bus. Again, Tekle was arrested. This time, Nicaraguan officials had so many detainees on their hands that they turned Tekle and others over to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

Shortly afterward, Tekle made a deal with a smuggler who hid him in the false bottom of a truck to take him through Honduras and into Guatemala. Guards stopped the truck four or five times at checkpoints, but the migrants were not detected. Tekle said there was so little air during the 18-hour journey that he almost suffocated.

As he lay in the truck, feeling like he was going to die, he was consumed by doubt.

“I had so many regrets,” Tekle said. “I asked myself: Why did I do this?”

From Guatemala, smugglers led Tekle into Mexico on foot, where he surrendered to authorities. He was released with a warning to leave the country within 30 days — a document that smugglers told Tekle he should obtain to prove to U.S. authorities that he had been in Mexico.

Making it to Baltimore

In May 2009, smugglers guided Tekle across the Rio Grande into McAllen, Tex. He was driven by car to a safe house in Houston and put on a bus to Baltimore.

Tekle estimated his family spent $24,000 for bribes, smugglers and his living expenses during the nearly year and a half he was in transit.

On April 4, Tekle and his attorney, Dzubow, successfully argued that the young man had a legitimate fear of persecution if he returned to Eritrea. Tekle was granted asylum and is working at a handbag and accessories stand at Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore.

Immigration authorities said the networks that facilitated Tekle’s migration across three continents illustrates the difficulty of halting the flow of migrants.

Spero, of the ICE, said some human trafficking is highly centralized, especially in Mexico, where smugglers often have ties to drug cartels. But in other countries, no single smuggler is responsible for an entire journey.

“The route itself is going to change,” Spero said as he explained the challenge of shutting down routes. “Tomorrow it could flip-flop countries and cut out four countries.”