Q&A -Asylum under siege along the US-Mexico border

As the flow of asylum seekers and those forced to migrate to the US-Mexico border continues, it is important to understand what is happening and why. This is particularly important as active duty US Army troops are mobilized to the border in unprecedented numbers in response to the supposed threat posed by migrant caravans.

 

Why have people camped out at the bridges? What is happening at the Ports of Entry in El Paso?

Presenting oneself at a port of entry is one of the legal channels by which those with a fear of returning to their country can seek asylum.

 

In May 2018, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began the unusual practice of stationing agents in the middle of international bridges in order to pre-screen those entering the United States for documentation, such as passports and visas. As part of this process, CBP officials routinely turned asylum seekers away before they were able to step inside the United States, often under the pretext of “limited capacity”. Immigration advocates have expressed serious concerns regarding the legality of this practice since it directly limits access to asylum.

 

CBP’s practice of pre-screening and limiting the entry of individuals at ports of entry, in the middle of bridges, has effectively limited access to asylum to those families, mothers and fathers reaching our border who are fleeing for their lives. This practice has resulted in people forming lines and camping out at local ports of entry.

 

How have Mexican authorities responded to these evolving conditions, and to the migrant caravan(s)?

Recently, Mexican authorities have begun to take steps such as clearing encampments of asylum seekers at ports of entry, which together with similar steps at other key crossings throughout the US-Mexico border region, reflect increasing collaboration with US authorities to restrict asylum rights. Authorities have also regularly harassed migrants in transit in Mexico  instead of providing the support required by Mexican and international law.

 

What are the migrant  caravans?

Over the last few months, large groups of migrants and asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have organized to travel together into Mexico en route to the US border. The largest of these groups has formally taken the name Central American Migrant Exodus for Life, with over 6,000 participants. Groups from other countries such as Nicaragua, Venezuela and even African countries have also joined the thousands making the pilgrimage to the United States seeking protection. Several additional contingents of migrants organized into caravans are making their way north as well, including several thousand who recently arrived to Mexico City in a second major wave. According to UNICEF, 2,300 migrants in the caravan are children. Hundreds of women (many of them pregnant or traveling with small children), unaccompanied youth, elderly, disabled and many who identify themselves as LGBT recently arrived in Tijuana. Another column of some 1,800 immigrants heading towards the Rio Grande Valley border region of Texas, and a recently formed contingent of over one thousand Salvadorans is moving north from Chiapas.

 

Why do migrants choose to form caravans of this kind?

Migrants regularly face violence by criminal groups on their journey who often act in collusion with authorities in Mexico and other countries of transit along their path. Tens of thousands of migrants have disappeared on Mexican territory since 2007, and 80% of migrant women have endured rape or some form of sexual abuse.

 

How is the US responding to the recent Central American exodus?

The US Government’s response to this exodus has not focused on humanitarian needs. The Trump Administration deployed more than 5,000 US Army troops to the southern border. This is significantly more than the number of troops currently deployed in Syria. No total cost has been provided for these steps, but estimates range as high as $35 million dollars for a deployment of 5,200 troops for a 45 day period. There are also concerns about rules of engagement and use of force. These concerns have been heightened by the recent announcement that these troops may be authorized to provide direct operational, and not only logistical support, to CBP officers at the border. This raises additional concerns related to the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the powers of the federal government in using military personnel to enforce domestic laws, and regarding the possible mobilization to the border of armed anti-immigrant militia groups who are known for their propensity towards recurrent acts of violence and hate crimes.

 

There was an inescapable political character to the Trump administration’s response, coming as it did just before the 2018 November midterm elections. The Border Patrol’s decision to schedule paramilitary style crowd control training exercises for Election Day in a migrant neighborhood located in El Paso’s downtown area, also illustrated the administration’s political motivations. The training exercises were cancelled after strong concerns were expressed by border communities and by immigrant rights advocates throughout the country.

 

Why are people leaving their home countries?

Entrenched poverty, economic and political insecurity as well as violence related to struggles over the control of drug trafficking routes and markets in the Northern Triangle countries of Central America continue to drive migration from that region to the United States. Honduras and El Salvador are two of the most violent countries in the world. Vulnerable populations such as women, youth, persons identified as LGBTQ, indigenous communities and those of African descent are often targeted by criminal groups and receive little protection from their own governments. US policies such as the Mérida Initiative and its regional equivalents have promoted the militarization of public security throughout Mexico and Central America as part of the so-called ”drug war”. Meanwhile little has been done in the US to address the high demand for drugs which drives this violence.

 

Climate change-related events like severe drought and floods have damaged or altogether compromised subsistence-based agricultural sectors across the region. International free trade agreements have failed to deliver promises of economic growth and have led to precarious environmental and labor conditions.

 

Intensified migration flows from the Northern Triangle are also connected to the continuing legacies of US interventions in the region in the 1980s, when the first waves of mass Central American migration to the US were triggered. Most Central Americans were denied asylum in the US during this period because the regimes they fled were aligned with US policies and received extensive US military and political support during the Cold War. It is this context which led to the emergence of the sanctuary movement which is currently being revived in communities of faith throughout the US.

 

Why are people coming to the  US? Why can’t they just seek asylum in other countries like Mexico?

It has been estimated that 80% of the participants in the migrant caravan that recently arrived in Tijuana have relatives living in the US, so proximity to family is a key driver. Additionally, people fleeing for their lives are legally allowed to seek asylum in a country in which they feel safe and which has the infrastructure to process their claim according to international law.

 

Unfortunately, Mexico’s asylum system has essentially collapsed during the last year. It is also clear given the large number of Mexicans who have fled drug violence and state terror in Mexico since 2007 that Mexico is in no position to protect its own citizens, much less those fleeing similar forms of violence in Central America.

 

The 1980 US Refugee Act and international law guarantee individuals the right to seek asylum regardless of where they cross the border. US authorities are required to process these petitions. The Refugee Act also prohibits immigration officials from returning asylum seekers to situations of danger.

 

Asylum seekers are not required to seek asylum in Mexico, or in any other country they cross before arriving to the US. In fact, requesting asylum in another country may limit their ability to do so in the US.

 

Mexico’s asylum system has essentially collapsed during the last year. It is also clear given the large number of Mexicans who have fled drug violence and state terror in Mexico since 2007 that Mexico is in no position to protect its own citizens, much less those fleeing similar forms of violence in Central America.

 

What does the Trump administration’s new asylum regulation proclamation do to limit asylum?

President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation and Rule on Asylum on November 9, 2018. The proclamation denies the right to apply for asylum to anyone who crosses the US-Mexico border anywhere except through official ports of entry. An official port of entry is a place where one can legally enter a country by land, air or sea. These policies in effect constitute a new kind of asylum ban which targets people from Central America, and violate explicit provisions of both US and international law. They are based on the same provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act which were used by the Trump administration to justify its multiple travel bans and other forms of “extreme vetting” which were intended to target migrants and potential refugees or asylum seekers from countries with Muslim majorities or located in the Middle East. A US District Court judge in San Francisco has granted a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent enforcement of these new policies until a new hearing is held on December 19th, based on a court challenge filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the ACLU on behalf of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant.

 

Ironically, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office found that the current practice of turning away asylum seekers at official border ports of entry has led some asylum seekers to cross between ports of entry.

 

It is alarming that this announcement came while hundreds of asylum seekers were awaiting processing at our local ports of entry in temperatures that had dropped below freezing. Local groups have documented at least 250 to 300 migrants who were left to wait at the official ports of entry between Ciudad Juarez, MX and El Paso, TX over the past three weeks. Long waiting lists for potential asylum seekers are also prevalent at border crossings such as San Ysidro in California, just north of Tijuana.