From the ‘American dream’ to a future in Europe: 70 Nicaraguan refugees arrive in Spain with a program promoted by the US

The ‘American dream’ for a future in Spain: this is the exchange made by 74 Nicaraguan refugees who started the ‘Safe Mobility’ program promoted by the government of Joe Biden to guarantee legal routes to migration to the United States, But finally reached there. European countries where the government of Pedro Sánchez and international humanitarian agencies—such as UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM)—guarantee a one-year work contract for one member of each family that arrives.

They landed on Spanish soil on December 12 from Costa Rica, where they lived after leaving Nicaragua. They did so by an agreement between Spain, the United States, and the Central American country to host refugees of Nicaraguan origin. Accem tells the organization This is a statement.

With the Biden Administration in the Safe Mobility Program to host small quotas of refugees or migrants requesting legal access to the United States from offices opened by this initiative in Spain and Latin American countries such as Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala Let’s cooperate. Ecuador.

“They are happy,” Exem spokesman Daniel Duque tells Univision Noticias of the refugees who arrived in Spain a month ago. Your organization is managing this program in collaboration with the Pedro Sanchez Government and Provincial Council of Valladolid. According to what they tell us, Nicaraguan refugees have improved “their conditions” at “all levels” since arriving in Europe, he added.

Located in rural environment

The arrival of these refugees is part of an innovative asylum and resettlement program in Spain. The quota managed by the Accem organization is composed of 74 Nicaraguans distributed among 27 families. According to an Accem spokesperson, one of the basic factors of this program is that at least one member of each family unit has been offered a contract to work in a company in the photovoltaic panel sector.

Employment and rehabilitation of these families will take place in the rural environment. This is another innovation, explains Duke. Nicaraguans are located in one of the areas known as ‘Empty Spain’ in the country, due to the high rates of migration recorded in the larger cities.

Valladolid is located in Castilla y León, one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, the region has lost 130,000 inhabitants over the past ten years. Nevertheless, according to the latest available records, the census in 2022 had 2,383,703 inhabitants, 8,120 more than a year earlier due to an increase in foreign nationals.

, Such projects attempt to demonstrate that it is possible to live and establish a population in a rural environment., “Every person who lives here, every new life that starts here is a benefit and an added value to the autonomous community,” explains Duque.

David Esteban, the municipality’s mayor, told Univision Noticias that of the 74 people who arrived in this first quota, about twenty settled in a town of 4,000 inhabitants called Medina de Rioseco. In the first weeks, beneficiaries were enrolled in training courses and lived in facilities funded by the Spanish administration. The goal, Duke says, is so that when they get their first paycheck they can start looking for rentals in the area.

Refugees who settled in Spain began their asylum process with the United States. That is, as the Exem spokesperson points out, it was the Biden administration that initiated the process of requesting asylum for these migrants. “They made the decision voluntarily and knew what it meant to come here,” says Duque, who in turn explains that it was in Costa Rica when they had the option to change their final destination and fly to Spain. Was presented.

One of the beneficiaries of the program told Euronews that the organizing institutions of the Safe Mobility Program—the United States, UNHCR and IOM—had told him that “there was an offer to leave Costa Rica with the option of work,” but they did not. . Provide them with any additional information. “It was the country that chose us,” he said. Univision Noticias has tried to interview some beneficiaries of the project, but it has not been possible because the institutions promoting it assure that “public demonstrations “Could put them at risk.”

The US assures that 165 Safe Mobility users have left for Spain

After living for a month in the province of Valladolid, Duque says that “what the beneficiaries of the program demonstrate most is” the security that both they and the children feel in their daily lives. For his part, the mayor reports that the newcomers are “very integrated into the municipality.”

Although the Spanish ministry in charge of migration only recognizes the arrival of about 70 refugees under the agreement signed with the Biden administration, the United States Department of State assures Univision News that 165 people have already left. Mobility Initiative in Costa Rica. And their program is that a total of 285 refugees will come.

Beyond Costa Rica, Program safe mobility It has offices in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador. The initiative seeks to provide legal pathways to Cuban, Haitian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Colombian, and Guatemalan immigrants and refugees who wish to reach the United States. From Washington they are betting on this route as one of the access options for asylum seekers, without endangering their lives due to the risks taken by migrants arriving irregularly at the southern border.

According to the latest data released by the State Department, as of the end of October, 61,000 individuals had submitted applications for the Secure Mobility Program. Of those, 4,800 were selected for possible resettlement as refugees in the country and more than 8,000 had requests assessed for access through “other legal means”.

Four of his children died in an accident, now he is seeking a humanitarian visa for his remaining son

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