A Venezuelan migrant is preparing to bid farewell a pet squirrel he adopted as a baby as he completes his trip from his home country to the US southern border.
Yeison, 23, and his squirrel, Niko, have traversed some of the most hostile environments from Venezuela to the Mexico-U.S. border and have been inseparable since the tiny rodent was newly born.
As an appointment booked by Yeison to seek entry to the U.S. and request asylum looms closer, the pair who have been each other's beacons during the tough journey will make the tough decision to part ways as animals are generally not allowed to cross the border.
‘It would practically be like starting with nothing, without Niko,' Yeison said. The young asylum-seeker says he doesn't want to part with Niko, but concedes it may be necessary because of strict rules on bringing live animals and plants into the United States.
Yeison and his pet, Niko migrated from Venezuela to the US and remained inseparable but now due to immigration laws of the country, Niko will be left at the Mexican border
While chances are slim that Yeison will be allowed to take his beloved pet across the border, all hope is not lost
Many who set off on the roughly 3,000-mile journey to the U.S. do so with only what they can carry and their loved ones.
For Yeison, that was a squirrel with a black stripe and flecks of white hair, who made the long trip nesting in a red knit cap stuffed inside a backpack.
For six months, Yeison and Niko lived in a tent at an encampment with hundreds of other migrants in Matamoros.
The site is across from the Texas border city of Brownsville, which is hundreds of miles east of Eagle Pass and not experiencing the same dramatic increase in migrants that prompted the mayor to issue an emergency declaration this past week.
While the chances of taking Niko to the U.S. are slim, volunteers at the encampment aren't giving up.
Gladys Cañas, the director of a nongovernmental organization, Ayudándoles A Triunfar, said she has encountered other migrants who wanted to cross with their pets – cats, dogs and even a rabbit once. But until now, had never seen a squirrel.
Cañas helped connect Yeison with a veterinarian to document Niko's vaccinations to provide to border agents.
She is hopeful they'll allow the squirrel to cross, whether with Yeison or with a volunteer.
‘There's a connection between him and the squirrel, so much that he preferred to bring it with him than leave the squirrel behind with family in Venezuela and face the dangers that come with the migrant journey,' she said.
He found the new born squirrel after nearly stepping on him one day and decided to take him home
Along with thousands of migrants, the pair were at a site across from the Texas border city of Brownsville and living in a tent
‘They gave each other courage.'
Yeison said he found the squirrel after nearly stepping on him one day in Venezuela.
The squirrel appeared to be newly born and Yeison took him home, where he named him Niko and family members fed him yogurt.
The picky squirrel, Yeison said, prefers nibbling on pine trees and is fed tomatoes and mangoes, even in times when food is hard to come by.
At first, Yeison said he sought work in Colombia. He returned to find a loose pine splinter lodged in Niko's eye and resolved after that to take the squirrel with him on the next journey to the U.S.
Like thousands of migrants, Yeison made the trip through the perilous jungle known as the Darien Gap, where he said he found the body of a man under some blankets.
He said he concealed Niko in a backpack when they boarded buses and crossed through checkpoint inspections in Mexico.
But one time, Yieson said, a bus driver discovered the squirrel and made him pay extra to keep the animal on board and he had to sell his phone for $35 to cover the cost.
Once they reached the encampment in Matamoros, the pair settled into a routine. Yeison makes money cutting hair by his tent and often falls asleep sharing the same pillow with Niko at night.
‘I don't want for him to be separated from me, because I know that we'd get heartsick. I'm sure of that,' Yeison said.
Migrants from Venezuela are seen wading through the Rio Grande on September 15 to arrive in Eagle Pass
Border agents say criminal gangs are taking ‘full advantage' of the escalating crisis by increasing their human trafficking efforts. Above, a group of 49 who were found in a ‘poorly ventilated trailer. They had come from Guatemala and Honduras
Migrants are pictured wading across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras to Eagle Pass last week
‘If he doesn't get sick, I hope he gets to be happy and that he never forgets my face.'
It comes after the Biden administration clamped down on strategies to contain migration as unauthorized border crossings surge across the southwest.
As of Wednesday, the number of migrants apprehended in a single day by the U.S. Border Patrol approached an estimated 9,000, according to preliminary data.
Rural areas of southern Arizona, including the greater Tucson region, as well as south Texas have seen large increases in migration.
Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Wednesday ‘swiftly vetted and processed' about 2,500 migrants taken into custody at the border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The enforcement involved shutting down rail and vehicle traffic at multiple border crossings in the area.
CPB officials resumed operations at the international railway bridge in Eagle Pass early Saturday, the agency said in a statement.
The U.S. Border Patrol made 181,059 apprehensions along the southern border in August up from 132,648 in July, according to latest CBP data.
Across the southwest, migrants were arrested or detained more than 232,000 times, the most since last December.
Authorities encountered migrants more than 300,000 times nationwide last month, up from 245,213 in July, according to the data.
The record numbers mark the largest monthly total ever recorded during the Biden administration.
