Thread: Some from caravan already released

As Central Americans prepare to seek asylum at border, officials say San Ysidro Port of Entry already at capacity

Sandra Dibble Contact Reporter


As they prepared to present themselves at the San YsidroPort of Entry today, a group of asylum seekers from Central America gathered at the border fence in Playas de Tijuana Sunday morning cheered on by supporters on both sides of the border.

The boisterous gathering grew to hundreds, with some waving Honduran flags, calling out chants, waving bouquets of yellow flags, and some of the younger members climbing to the top of the tall metal bollards. Others sat quietly, clutching infants, wondering what awaits them in U.S. custody.

By early Sunday afternoon, some 200 asylum seekers had begun to present themselves for entry, according to Nicole Ramos,who has worked closely with asylum applicants.

However, on Sunday afternoon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced they had already reached capacity at the San Ysidro Point of Entry and could not handle anyone without proper documentation to cross into the U.S.

“Depending upon port circumstances at the time of arrival, those individuals may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officials work to process those already in our facilities,” according to the statement issued by Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “As sufficient space and resources become available, CPB officers will be able to take additional individuals into the port for processing.”

Reina Isabel Rodriguez, 52, had traveled from El Salvador with her two grandchildren. “I fear that they will separate me from them,” she said.

She is among dozens of the Pueblo Sin Fronteras Caravan seeking asylum from the U.S. government — undeterred by fierce criticism from President Trump.

But some members may have to remain in Tijuana for a while longer before they can be processed by U.S. authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Pete Flores, director of field operations in San Diego for the agency, said on Saturday that “depending on port circumstances at the time of arrival, individuals may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officers work to process those already within our facilities.”

The Central Americans would not be the first group to be forced to wait in Mexico. When thousands of Haitians sought entry at San Ysidro in 2016, CBP worked with Mexican officials to accept limited numbers each day so as not to overwhelm the port’s processing capacity.



As they prepared to present themselves at the San Ysidro Port of Entry today, a group of asylum seekers from Central America gathered at the border fence in Playas de Tijuana Sunday morning cheered on by supporters on both sides of the border.


By foot, bus and train, the caravan participants have been journeying through Mexico since leaving the southern border city of Tapachula on March 25 with the aim of reaching the Tijuana-San Diego border. Most are from Honduras, and tell of gang violence and extortion back home.

On Saturday, as they lingered near the U.S. border at Plaza Viva Tijuana, many appeared weary and ready to move on.

Those expected to ask for asylum are a small percentage of a traveling group that at one point swelled to more than 1,700 members, according to organizers. They said that about 400 caravan participants, many of them women and children, had completed the journey to Tijuana, and some small groups already been surrendering at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in recent days.

David López was among dozens pondering their next move on Saturday afternoon. López, 25, who until recently worked on the staff of an elementary school, said “organized crime and our country’s government” had prompted him to flee the Copan area of Honduras with his wife and their three-year-old daughter.

Mother and child had presented themselves at San Ysidro Port of Entry ten days ago, but López remained behind. He said his wife and their daughter have been released from custody while their asylum claim is under review and are staying with family in South Carolina.

Today’s group is expected to be the largest and most public of this caravan to approach U.S. border officials, though exactly how many will seek asylum was not known.

On Friday and Saturday, the caravan members met at different locations near the border with volunteer attorneys who listened to their claims and offered counseling, “so that people really know what they’re getting into,” Ramos said.

Similar caravans for years have been taking place as a way of keeping Central Americans safe from criminal gangs and corrupt officials as they travel through Mexico hoping to make it to the U.S. border.

But this caravan is one of the largest — and by far the most visible, following a series of tweets by President Trump complaining that Mexico is doing little to stop them from reaching the U.S. border.

“This is not ideal for us to have this many people, this much publicity,” said Irineo Mujica, leader of the Pueblo Sin Fronteras Caravan. But “it’s been really really good that we are able to see what is the problem,” the violence that is causing so many to abandon their homes and come to the U.S. border.

Still, some migrant advocates have questioned the benefits brought by the caravan. “We don’t think it’s a really good move,” said the Rev. Patrick Murphy, who heads the Catholic-run Casa del Migrante, a 120-bed shelter that overlooks the city. “What happens to those people who have made this journey for quite a few weeks now, and they get rejected, or worse yet, they don’t even get their asylum cases heard.”

In a statement last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, said the department has been “closely monitoring” the remnants of the caravan.

She said DHS “encourages persons with asylum or other similar claims to seek protections in the first safe country they enter, including Mexico.”

But Maureen Meyer of the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group, said that “it’s naive to think that most of the Central Americans will want to request asylum in Mexico.”

While Mexico “has increased its capacity to process and screen potential asylum seekers, it still has a long way to go,” she said. “With widespread kidnappings, theft, sexual assaults and other crimes against migrants in Mexico, it is hard to think that Central Americans will view Mexico as a place they want to settle.”

Early Sunday there were about 80 caravan supporters just north of the border at Friendship Park but an anti-caravan group, called San Diegans for Secure Borders, were expected to protest.

This story was updated at 3:30 p.m.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...428-story.html

The Latest on a caravan of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

About 200 Central American migrants who traveled in a caravan and planned to try to seek asylum in the U.S. has arrived at San Diego's border crossing.

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But U.S. officials announced before they arrived Sunday that the San Ysidro port of entry had reached capacity.

Rodulfo Figueroa, the top Mexican immigration official in Baja California state, told caravan organizers to send in an initial group of 20 migrants to see if U.S. border inspectors would entertain their request for asylum.

Figueroa said he doesn't know if they'll be allowed in and hasn't received word from U.S. immigration officials.

The caravan has criticized as a threat by the Trump administration.

The migrants marched a short distance through downtown Tijuana and across a bridge to the nation's busiest border crossing, many carrying Honduran flags and chanting.
———
3:25 p.m.

An attorney working for a caravan of Central Americans has expressed disbelief that U.S. authorities say they cannot process more asylum seekers at the San Diego border crossing until its backlog eases.

Lawyer Nicole Ramos said at a news conference that U.S. Customs and Border Protection knew the migrants were going to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday and failed to prepare with sufficient agents and resources.

Despite the news, about 200 people who planned to turn themselves in and seek asylum still started walking toward San Diego's San Ysidro crossing.
U.S. officials have said the nation's busiest border crossing can hold about 300 people at a time.

The caravan got attention after President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet called it a threat to the United States.
———
2:50 p.m.

U.S. officials say San Diego's border crossing has reached capacity even before a caravan of Central American migrants criticized by the Trump administration began turning themselves in to seek asylum.

A statement Sunday from U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the nation's busiest border crossing can take in additional people as space and resources become available.

Nearly 200 Central Americans who have spent a month traveling in a caravan through Mexico planned to seek asylum Sunday.

The caravan got attention after President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet called it a threat to the U.S.

Officials had warned that San Diego's San Ysidro crossing may not be able to take asylum seekers if it faces too many at once. The agency has said the port can hold about 300 people temporarily.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...rally-54813005

I've had it with the "mother and child" BS. No American mother with children gets any special attention or exemption, why should these people?!!! We have a bunch of saps and suckers working for DOJ, ICE and BP.

Congress must act and repeal all asylum and refugee laws into the United States. We have every right to deny all asylum-seekers without hearings, without process. JUST STOP IT!!

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Mother and child had presented themselves at San Ysidro Port of Entry ten days ago, but López remained behind. He said his wife and their daughter have been released from custody while their asylum claim is under review and are staying with family in South Carolina.

Catch & release is still alive and well. Their case is being reviewed, it has not been adjudicated. It's almost a guarantee that the family in South Carolina is here illegally!

Reina Isabel Rodriguez, 52, had traveled from El Salvador with her two grandchildren. “I fear that they will separate me from them,” she said.

I have very little doubt that the grandmother and her two grandchildren will be released once their application is filed. I also have very little doubt that the parent(s) of the two children and the grandmother's child is working illegally here in the United States.

I'd charge that grandmother with kidnapping. All these children need to be taken to the nearest Consulate office to be returned to their home country. Everyone else needs to be turned back into Mexico. They promised the President they would break up these caravans. They lied!!

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