Many from refugee caravan remain in detention
Many from refugee caravan remain in detention
Kate Morrissey Contact Reporter
About half of the 108 asylum seekers who came to the U.S. as part of an organized caravan in early May remain in detention, according to activists who have been monitoring the group's outcomes.
The caravan journeyed across Mexico to advocate for the right of those persecuted in their home countries to seek asylum.
After a month-long trip, the group reached Tijuana in early May and split into groups to come to the U.S. border.
Those from the caravan who have sought protection so far come from Cameroon, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone. Forty-eight of them are children.
Whether to detain asylum seekers, who are fleeing persecution or torture in their home countries, has been part of the immigration debate for years. In what was seen by many as an effort to deter people from coming, former President Barack Obama’s administration increased detention of asylum seekers as Central Americans fleeing violence at home came in large numbers to the U.S. border. President Donald Trump has called on immigration officials to increase detention capacity beyond the levels under Obama.
Those against holding asylum seekers in detention say that living in what feels like a prison can exacerbate the trauma that they are fleeing in their home countries. They also point to statistics that show being held in detention makes it much less likely for an asylum seeker to find a lawyer, and that having a lawyer makes a difference in whether someone wins a case in immigration court.
Those who advocate for keeping asylum seekers in detention say that the U.S. government needs time to vet the new arrivals before allowing them out into the community. They worry about being able to properly identify individuals who might be trying to sneak into the U.S. to do harm to its citizens.
“That indefinite detention isn't because we don't trust them,” said Ian Philabaum, an advocate tracking the caravan’s cases. “It's a tool to get them to self-deport. They can't take it.”
All of the caravan members who have been released so far were in family detention, which means a group consisting of one parent and any minor children the parent came with to the border. If both parents came with their children to the border, one would go to family detention with the children and the other would end up in adult detention.
Over half of the asylum seekers from the caravan were separated from family members when they were processed by U.S. immigration officials, said Alex Mensing, another of the activists monitoring the situation. That means some of those released from family detention have family members still being held in adult detention.
After arriving at the U.S. border, members of the caravan were split between seven immigration detention facilities in California, Arizona, Texas and Pennsylvania.
Men and women are held separately in immigration detention facilities. Immigration officials have a few family facilities designated for women traveling with their minor children. One facility in Pennsylvania has beds for men with their minor children.
Family separation increases the likelihood that family members receive different decisions on their asylum applications, according to a report released in May by the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigrant advocacy group based in Washington D.C., which studied thousands of cases at a family detention center in Texas.
One man who asked for asylum came with his son, who is a U.S. citizen, Philabaum said. When border officials found out that the son's mother was in Mexico, they sent the boy back to her and placed the father in adult detention, Philabaum said.
“We don’t know when he’s going to see his son again,” Philabaum said. “Every time he complains, they’re going to say he has something that he can do about it and that’s self-deport.
Behind the scenes, that’s what happens.”
Those seeking asylum must meet the same criteria as refugees. They have to show that they were persecuted at home because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a specific social group. The difference between refugees and asylum seekers is that refugees register with the United Nations and wait abroad to be resettled by participating countries and asylum seekers come to the U.S. and ask for help after they arrive.
Most of the caravan group requested asylum at the San Ysidro port of entry, according to Mensing. Thirteen tried crossing without authorization between ports of entry and were caught by Border Patrol.
Regardless of whether they come to a port of entry or are caught crossing, once asylum seekers tell U.S. immigration officials that they are afraid to return home, officials are required by law to process the cases as potential asylum claims.
The person is generally detained and interviewed by a trained asylum officer. That interview, known as a credible fear interview, determines whether an asylum seeker has a valid claim to be allowed to go through the immigration court process or whether the person will be sent back without a hearing.
“It’s hard to be in detention,” Philabaum said. “You talked to an asylum officer and told them the worst story of your life.
Waiting to find out the answer is one of the most stress-filled moments that individuals experience while they’re detained.”
All 45 caravan members who have received decisions for their interviews passed and are waiting for their hearings with immigration judges.
Immigration court generally prioritizes cases for those who remain in detention and hears them more quickly, but detainees can still wait over a year for a hearing.
In order to be released from detention, those who pass credible fear interviews must be able to prove their identities, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy document from 2010. Since many asylum seekers do not have government-issued identification from the countries they are fleeing, that requirement can be difficult to meet.
Immigration officials also consider asylum seekers’ likelihood to show up in court and whether they might be dangerous before deciding to release them.
Many who work in the immigration system believed Obama’s administration did not fully follow that policy and held people who could have been released. They believe that policy is followed even less by the Trump administration.
San Diego immigration attorney Emily Arnold said that since Trump's inauguration, she's been told by immigration officials that her clients have a slim chance of being released, though she thinks they meet all of ICE's requirements. She has clients who provided similar information to ICE and were released prior to Trump's taking office, she said.
“One deportation officer told me there was a zero percent chance my client would be released even before looking at the documents,” she said by telephone. “It seems that there is a change in policy, but it’s nothing official.”
Some of the caravan's asylum seekers who have been released from detention have to wear ankle monitors while they wait for their hearings, Mensing said. He was not sure how many.
Others who were part of the caravan and are still in Mexico plan to come to the border and request asylum soon.
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