Surge of Haitians at San Ysidro Port of Entry
Group among hundreds camped out at pedestrian entrance
By Sandra Dibble | 2:14 p.m. May 26, 2016
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Three Africans wait to present themselves Thursday to U.S. authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, part of a recent surge that has included a significant number of Haitians. These men said they were from the Congo and Guinea, and hoped to seek asylum. David Maung
SAN YSIDRO — Surging numbers of Haitians and migrants from other countries have been arriving at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in recent days, hoping for admission to the United States. Early Thursday morning, hundreds camped out inside the port’s pedestrian entrance as they awaited processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Men, women and children could be seen huddled together, sleeping under blankets on the center’s tile floor, while lines of pedestrians continued stepping through. Outside the facility, about two dozen people gathered in the open air, waiting to be admitted--a group that included Haitians, Mexicans, Armenians, and French-speaking men who said they were from the Congo.
Among those waiting outside was a man who gave his first name, Cédric, and said he was a 25-year-old mechanic from Port-au-Prince who had been working in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “I have left my country to look for a better life, like a lot of people,” he said in French. He did not provide as to how he had arrived at the border, except to say that he flew into Tijuana.
Another man, who did not give his name, communicated in Portuguese that he had left Haiti in 2013 for work in Brazil. To get to the San Ysidro border, he had crossed through several countries, including Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. He said he was not seeking political asylum.
CBP did not authorize interviews or photographs inside the pedestrian facility, where inspectors on average process close to 25,000 northbound pedestrians a day.
A statement issued Thursday by the agency said, “recently, we have seen an uptick in the number of Haitians arriving at San Ysidro with no status in the United States.”
The Haitians “are being processed on a case-by-case basis,” according to the statement. Those with no status to enter the country are placed in removal proceedings “according to their situation,” the statement said. They are then placed in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which makes an initial determination as to their admissability into the United States.
Haitians have traditionally crossed to South Florida in rickety boats risking treacherous waters to get to the United States. They are often intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard and returned to Haiti before they can touch land.
“Very few Haitians make it to dry land,” said Cheryl Little, a Miami immigration attorney who has worked extensively with the Haitian community in South Florida. “Your chances of making it are so slim.”
After Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, Brazil welcomed large numbers of Haitians, providing them with work papers, said Little, who is executve director of Americans for Immigrant Justice. But some of the Haitians are leaving Brazil after encountering hard times there, she said.
Merchants in Tijuana said they began seeing a significant spike in the numbers last weekend. “So many people, since Sunday,” said Yuleni Pérez, who sells newspapers. “There are some that don’t even have a blanket to cover themselves.”
CBP is using the old Customs facility at San Ysidro to process those without status, said Jackie Wasiluk, an agency spokeswoman. Those needing an I-94 form — for U.S. visitors who are traveling more than 25 miles from the border — are temporarily being directed to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, she said.
ICE officers are “currently reviewing the immigration cases of a significant number of Haitian nationals who recently sought to enter the United States and the San Ysidro Port of Entry,” ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said in a statement.
After an initial processing by CBP staff, the ICE officers — from the agency’s Enforcement Removal and Operations division — “are responsible for determining whether they will remain detained or released while their immigration cases undergo further review by the immigration courts,” Mack said.
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