MIAMI (AP) – Alan Reyes Picado fled Nicaragua by bus in the middle of the night, haunted by memories of government officials harassing him, throwing him in jail and then leaving him half naked in a dumpster.
After crossing the Mexican-U.S. border in February and being detained for two months, the 20-year-old immigrant lives in San Francisco and hopes to receive a work permit soon.
“I lived in fear and decided to seek help in this country,” said Reyes Picado, who left his partner and an 8-month-old baby in his home country.
Reyes Picado is one of the thousands of Nicaraguans the U.S. government has encountered at the border in recent months. Customs and Border Protection data shows a big jump in arrivals from the Central American country, which is the focus of international criticism over arbitrary arrests and the restriction of fundamental rights.
U.S. authorities stopped Nicaraguans 7,425 times in June compared to 534 times in January. So far in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, U.S. officials have stopped Nicaraguans more than 19,300 times at the southern border. That’s the highest number of encounters registered in recent years, surpassing record figures from fiscal year 2019, when authorities stopped Nicaraguans more than 13,000 times.