Carlos Miguel Romero Castrejón, a migrant child who became an expert in the CBPOne application —launched by the United States government on January 12 to process asylum applications— Thursday arrived at the Garita del Chaparral around 10:30 a.m. in the morning and crossed into the United States.
He and his family had done several attempts to cross and while his case was accepted, was helping to other migrants, which made him a leader at the Agape shelter, where his fellow sheltermates nicknamed him The CBPOne child.
“I felt very stressed from the work I was doing, they didn’t let me sleep and I feel very proud because I was helping several people,” said Carlos.
Carlos’ life changed during his stay in Tijuana. The 14-year-old boy arrived at the border in November 2022 accompanied by his mother and his little brother. This morning he was tearfully fired by the shelter coordinator, Pastor Albert Rivera.
“He is a very special child, very intelligent, sometimes at 4 or 5 in the morning the immigrants would wake him up, ‘please help me,’ they would tell him, and he would get up to help those immigrants so he could enter the CBPOne application” Rivera said.
Carlos arrived at the checkpoint this Thursday to enter the United States with his mother and younger brother, now a new life awaits them in Dallas, Texas.
Elvia Castrejón Avilés, Carlos’ mother, explained that “Where we come from is not safe, there is a lot of crime, they took out the shootings again and no longer sleep peacefully, I wanted a better life for my children, they are small, I want a life for them calm and better ”.
More than 11,000 people of different nationalities have entered through the Chaparral checkpoint using the CBPOne application since it began operating in January 2023, according to information from the Tijuana City Council’s Directorate of Attention to Migrants.
Carlos’ work was appreciated even by the immigration authorities. Manuel Marín, head of Inami in Baja California, expressed that “It seems that this minor has helped a lot of people with the issue of application, young people are the ones who know more about these issues, it is a very good story and it is good for Those who would like to enter the United States in an orderly manner can do so.”
Carlos is already in the United States and promised to return to Mexico one day to help migrants like him.