Hope Away From Home

“Hope away from home” is the United Nations theme this year to mark World Refugee Day, June 20. Those words could hardly be more appropriate for 15-year-old Cecilia*. After fleeing her native Guatemala, Cecilia, finally, is feeling wrapped in safety, security, and love as she advances her studies and life at Covenant House Mexico.

“I’ve been here for two years, and in that time, they’ve helped me process my papers, so now I’m a resident of Mexico,” Cecilia writes. “I’m finishing elementary school online and getting ready to move to the next level. Thanks to Covenant House Mexico, I’m making it.”

Among the 78 youth currently living at Covenant House Mexico, 15 are migrant youth our staff are helping to navigate the legal process of requesting asylum in Mexico.

“We’re committed to bringing support and care to those adolescents who, due to unfortunate circumstances in their home countries, feel obliged to migrate and understand migration as a necessity — even as a necessity to survive,” says Covenant House Mexico Director of Social Assistance Alejandro Nuñez Medina.

“When you have the chance to talk with them, you realize that most have left their homes alone, by themselves. Along the way, they may meet up with other youth of a similar age or who have similar reasons for leaving and seeking safety and another life,” he says.

Cecilia was just 13 when she arrived alone at Covenant House Mexico. Across our Latin America sites, the youth we reach are between 12 and 18 years old.

Thanks to support from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Covenant House Mexico is able to provide legal support for our young people who come to us from the migrant trail. Our in-house lawyers Andrea Garrido and Alejandra Jiménez note that this requires a “coordinated effort between our organization and the whole governmental system of child protection in Mexico because we’re dealing with minors.”

Andrea and Alejandra support the youth through the legal system, helping them to regularize their status and acquire their legal identity papers, known as the CURP. “This document is important because all Mexican authorities require it in order for a person to access services. For example, the Mexican education system requires it to register for school, the health system requires it to access medical care; all Mexican institutions require it for any transaction.”

Itzayana Cervantes leads fundraising and social investment at Covenant House Mexico and is the contact with UNHCR and Casa Alianza Suisse, a solidarity organization in Switzerland. “Besides basic necessities like healthy food, clothing, and dignified shelter, our young people need to count on the cultural conditions that allow them to exercise their rights, especially the right to no discrimination,” she says.

Support from Casa Alianza Suisse helps cover family reintegration, independent living, workforce development, medical and mental health care, and part of the educational, recreational, therapy activities of youth seeking refugee status in Mexico at our shelter, Itzayana adds.

“So many different humanitarian crises have displaced thousands of people, who seek a better way to live. That’s why the work with unaccompanied migrant youth and asylum seekers is so important,” she says.

Supporting their petitions for safety and refuge means “they will be able to count on opportunities for education, health, work, and to enjoy a better quality of life,” say lawyers Andrea and Alejandra.

At Covenant House, we believe every young person deserves a safe place to sleep — period. Like Cecilia, no young person should be denied the means to live their life with dignity, safety, and love.

*Not her real name. A pseudonym is used to protect our youth’s identity.