The New York Times chronicled a Venezuelan family’s trek from Chile and Peru northward to the United States and inadvertently revealed the economic freebies and legal chaos enabling President Joe Biden’s migrant flood swamping the United States.
The paper has been tracking the progress of a family of Venezuelans who traveled via the infamous and dangerous Darién Gap through Colombia and Panama, through three more countries to Guatemala, then through Mexico before entering into the United States where they were allowed into the country via Joe Biden’s shambolic “parole” system.
The story follows the efforts of Henry Aguilar, a man who served a prison sentence in Venezuela for abusing his authority as a police officer and robbing someone, and his partner, Leivy Ortega.
Ortega already had several children when she met Aguilar in Chile after they had each left Venezuela several years prior. But as the paper noted, she was later arrested for domestic violence against Aguilar once they got to the United States and was responsible for having her family kicked out of a free shelter in Texas because she got in a fist fight with several other migrants there.
The pair are not married, but appear to have been together several years before they made the decision to go to New York without going through the legal channels ahead of time.
The Times followed the cobbled-together family as they trudged through jungles, swam rivers, slept on streets, went without food, and struggled to keep their three children safe — even as Ortega left a teen daughter back in Ecuador because the child was too sick to accompany them.
This group had no money, no support, and no plans, but subsisted on handouts from strangers and some money sent from family back home throughout their trip to the United States border. And once they reached our country, they were given thousands of dollars of government handouts.
Before entering the United States the family relied on donations from family members back home who eventually sent them about $8,000 to help them pay their way through their Central American journey as well as handouts from some of the governments or NGOs in the various countries through which they passed. The money went for food, lodging, transportation, and bribes for various government officials and drug cartel thugs.
After a series of trying and dangerous trips, the made it to the United States border.
The paper followed the family’s entry into the United States on November 10, 2023, at El Paso, Texas, where Aguilar neglected to mention that he was a convict in Venezuela and where they were logged in to be given the migration status of “parole” that allowed them to come and go as they please in the United States. The “parole” status allowed them free movement while they await an immigration hearing date supplied to Aguilar upon entry.
But only three days after entering El Paso, the family was kicked out of a free shelter after Ortega got in a physical altercation with several other women in the shelter. Instead of looking for other shelter, the family used their family dog, Donna, to panhandle to raise the enough money for a bus trip to New York City.
Instead of taking the bus, though, the family found themselves gifted $2,000 by a Christian group out of Michigan to fund flights to New York City on Delta Airlines. Immediately after landing, they secured free shelter, clothing, and food at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. Then, after that, city officials gave them a spot in the migrant tent city at Floyd Bennett Field on Jamaica Bay. All without charge.
Aguilar, though, was not happy with the free services, free food, free clothing, and other freebies afforded them by the taxpayers of New York and decided to take the family to nearby Connecticut where he thought he could find better prospects.
He purchased a used car and drove to Connecticut, once again without plans, contacts, or any sure prospects. The paper did not mention if Aguilar had any insurance, a driver’s license, or if he even bought the car legally.
Once the family reached Connecticut, social worker Maria Cardona jumped into action and began offering the family another round of freebies — this time courtesy of the taxpayers of the state of Connecticut — along with donations from several non-profit groups.
A local school teacher also helped by arranging for donations of food and clothes for the family and paid Aguilar’s $410 fee to apply for a work permit. She also convinced her husband to offer Aguilar a $20-an-hour job with his construction company.
While in Connecticut, Aguilar bought another used car and told the Times he still fears that the federal government will find out he is a convict and will eventually deny his application for “asylum.”
But their Connecticut dream came tumbling down when Ortega attacked Aguilar with a baseball bat and was arrested for assault. State authorities ruled that she could not come near Aguilar and the couple split up. Still, after a few months, they made up and fled the state of Connecticut without finishing the legal proceedings concerning her assault charges and in violation of the order of protection taken out against her.
The family also became aware in March that Aguilar is pregnant and expecting a child that will be an automatic U.S. citizen, something they hope will help them with their immigration status.
To date, the paper followed the family to Houston, Texas, where Aguilar’s estranged baby mama took them all in. Today, the family — still without plans, support, money, or prospects — are all living in a single-family apartment in one bedroom with a mattress on the floor.
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