How Trump’s Policies Are Leaving Thousands of Asylum Seekers Waiting in Mexico

By Jason Kao and Denise Lu

For years, migrants arriving in Tijuana hoping to seek asylum in the United States have been told to add their names to a waiting list kept by Mexican immigration officials. Amid a surge in arrivals over the last year, which led to Trump administration policies designed to deter them, that list — kept in a handwritten notebook — has stretched to thousands of names.

In July in Tijuana: About 500 asylum seekers were processed.

About 9,900 were on the waiting list by the end of the month.

By August, the list had grown to more than 10,000 people, according to Al Otro Lado, a legal services organization for migrants. With an average of 34 people allowed to cross each day under a Border Patrol policy known as metering, the waiting time is now estimated to be six to nine months.

Those who have yet to cross will spend weeks or months waiting their turn. Those who are sent back to wait in Mexico may not see a judge for an additional six to eight months. Even then, most cases require lengthy litigation and could last months longer.

The metering and “Remain in Mexico” policies are part of a broader Trump administration effort to push Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to accept more migrants, most of whom come from Central American countries. The administration has also sought “safe third country” agreements with those same countries to absorb asylum seekers bound for the United States. Mexico has refused to sign an agreement. Guatemala signed on July 26, after President Trump threatened it with tariffs.

Shelters and legal services organizations in cities on both sides of the border have struggled to keep up with the influx of migrants. In Mexican cities like Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo, where some shelters have begun turning away migrants because of overcrowding, migrants who cannot afford to stay in apartments or hotels sleep in the streets or on the bridges leading to the ports of entry they hope someday to cross.

Migrants in Mexico face targeted kidnappings and violence, and chances of eventually winning asylum in the United States are much lower with limited access to American lawyers.

In recent months, some migrants tired of waiting have decided to return to their home countries. The Mexican government assisted with 6,400 such returns in June, compared with fewer than 1,500 in January.

Others have sought more permanent refuge in Mexico, where asylum claims this year are expected to reach well above 80,000, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

But far more migrants choose to forgo the waiting lists and court delays and instead risk an illegal crossing into the United States. Since January, about 400,000 unaccompanied minors and migrants traveling as families have been apprehended between ports of entry; most of them are quite likely asylum seekers.

For more information, go to: http://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com