Mayra Giler and her daughter, Judith Castañeda Giler, traveled to the United States in order to get a new job opportunity; however, when they were crossing the Arizona desert, Mayra passed away and her daughter was placed under the orders of the North American immigration authorities.
Mother and daughter left Ecuador in April, by plane bound for Mexico. In Aztec territory they contacted a coyotero who asked them for USD 15,000 to cross the border. Half of the payment had to be in advance, the other part of the money had to be delivered before starting the trip.
They left the hotel where they were staying and for four months they were sleeping in warehouses in different parts of Mexico, they even suffered kidnapping attempts and death threats before reaching the border.
They remained in the border area until the night of August 9, the women left in the early morning of the next day, to walk throughout the Arizona desert on US soil. The walk lasted about 12 hours, they were accompanied by eight migrants who were also seeking to settle in the United States.
However, a border patrol showed up, so the group fled. After an hour, the 35-year-old could no longer bear the harsh conditions she was exposed to: she felt bad and passed out.
The other migrants abandoned the woman with her daughter in the middle of the desert. The 18-year-old, in her desperation, sought the help of the border patrol to save her mother’s life; however, during the journey Mayra Giler passed away and Judith Castañeda was detained.
In a stroke of luck, Judith managed to contact a friend she met in Mexico, so that she could comment on her situation to her relatives in Ecuador. On August 11, Javier Castañeda managed to contact his daughter, with the permission of the US authorities, thus, he confirmed the portal La Historia.
Family members try to recover Mayra’s body and the young migrant. The family is from Durán, they approached Guayaquil in search of help. However, the now widower Javier Castañeda, commented that they only mentioned that he sent an email that explains what happened: he already sent it, he still has no answer.
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