The Caravan Of Asylum Seekers In Mexico Is Running Into A Massively Backlogged US System

The caravan on its way to the Us border.

As many as 200 plan to eventually seek asylum at the San Ysidro border crossing, one of the busiest US ports along the southern border. As of Tuesday morning, about 16 members were waiting and sleeping outside the point of entry while exposed to the weather. A few others were turned away Monday without being able to make their case. Most of the migrants will wait an indefinite period of time to be heard.Border officials have issued a flurry of confusing and seemingly contradictory statements to explain the delays.
But when the caravan arrived at San Ysidro on Sunday, US Customs and Border Patrol said the San Ysidro port of entry had “reached capacity" and that caravan members would have to wait in Mexico.
In March, 3,786 people, including potential asylum seekers, were turned away at the closest field office in San Diego. Here's how that stacks up to the past year and a half:
Source: US Customs and Border Protection
The US is under strict obligation under international law to accept and provide for refugees and asylum seekers. Anyone persecuted due to their race, religion, nationality, politics or for being a member of a particular social group can apply for asylum, either when they arrive or when they have already immigrated to the US.
But the system has been backlogged for years.
Source: USCISNote: Data reflect I-589 applications for asylum for fiscal years (Fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30).
Source: TRACNote: Numbers represent rates and total number of Immigration Court asylum denials for the fiscal years 2012 through 2017. Countries had to have at least 25 asylum case decisions during those years to be included in the analysis.
“The Trump administration narrowed the pathway for asylum immediately when it issued its executive orders in January 2017,” Archi Pyati, chief of policy at the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit that works with women asylum seekers primarily from Central America, told BuzzFeed News.

1 comment:

  1. We may not yet have a wall, but at least we have a ball: of red tape.


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