{"id":594289,"date":"2018-06-21T14:04:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=594289"},"modified":"2018-06-21T15:23:18","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T21:23:18","slug":"meet-the-man-going-head-to-head-with-federal-agents-to-help-asylum-seekers-cross-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/meet-the-man-going-head-to-head-with-federal-agents-to-help-asylum-seekers-cross-the-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the man going head-to-head with federal agents to help asylum seekers cross the border"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_594293\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-594293\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/El_Paso_border_2_JA_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Ruben Garcia\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/El_Paso_border_2_JA_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/El_Paso_border_2_JA_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/El_Paso_border_2_JA_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/El_Paso_border_2_JA_TT-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/El_Paso_border_2_JA_TT.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Juli\u00e1n Aguilar \/ The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">American volunteers led by Ruben Garcia escort a group of immigrants seeking asylum across the international bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>CIUDAD JU\u00c1REZ, Mexico \u2013 As news began to leak Wednesday morning that President Donald Trump was about to sign an executive order <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/trump-reverses-course-signs-order-to-stop-separating-families\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to end the practice of separating immigrant families<\/a>, Ruben Garcia was making his way toward the international bridge on another mission.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia, the director of the El Paso-based Annunciation House, spent Wednesday morning guiding two immigrant families to the top of the Paso Del Norte bridge that connects El Paso and Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez. Minutes later he was standing face-to-face with a group of Customs and Border Protection agents who were planted just over the international boundary,\u00a0preventing people seeking asylum\u00a0from entering the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can wait and in the near term we will be able to process,\u201d acting Port Director Ray Provencio\u00a0told Garcia. \u201cWe will do everything we can to try and make sure we facilitate and streamline and make sure we open up some space as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/20\/immigrant-families-asylum-seeking-border-aclu-el-paso\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But Garcia, whose\u00a0El Paso\u00a0shelter takes in immigrant children and families on a regular basis, had heard that before. He wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea when people who have already suffered tremendously are sent back &#8230; I can\u2019t see how that can be considered humane,\u201d he told Provencio. \u201cI know that last week you all released 360 persons to us. There have been weeks where you have released at least 1,000 people to us, so that\u2019s how I know capacity isn\u2019t an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u00a0marked\u00a0the fourth or fifth time Garcia has attempted to help families cross\u00a0into the United States. The first time was a quieter affair, but\u00a0with the separation of families at the border becoming international news,\u00a0journalists from all over the country were on hand to see what would happen Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue until we see that there can be some changes,&#8221; Garcia said. &#8220;When CBP says, \u2018We don\u2019t have room, we don\u2019t have capacity,&#8217; my response to that is, make room and increase your capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garcia opened the Annunciation House in the late 1970s after leading a group of idealistic young Catholics who wanted to do more for the people of El Paso and\u00a0organizing a visit to the borderland by Mother Teresa,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/World\/Making-a-difference\/2012\/1109\/Ruben-Garcia-sought-his-mission-in-life.-He-found-it-helping-the-poorest-of-the-poor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/World\/Making-a-difference\/2012\/1109\/Ruben-Garcia-sought-his-mission-in-life.-He-found-it-helping-the-poorest-of-the-poor&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1529610118766000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEqjeOzZKddKBmdjsFkP04gaJPThg\">according<\/a>\u00a0to The Christian Science Monitor. On Wednesday, he seemed to lament how much had changed since then.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is so sad for me is the realization is that we, the U.S., led the world in bringing about the [humane] treatment of people and we did that with great pride,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Though the government has said in recent\u00a0weeks that families seeking asylum should do so at a port of entry to avoid being criminally prosecuted and separated, Garcia and others have been monitoring the relatively new practice of\u00a0agents asking border\u00a0crossers for documents before they reach U.S. soil.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The families he was accompanying on Wednesday, both from southern Mexico, said they\u00a0are fleeing violence in their home country and had been turned away from the bridge before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey do not want to allow them to put their feet on U.S. soil,\u201d Garcia told reporters just south of the international boundary. \u201cPeople with fear have the right to apply for asylum, pure and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Federal officials have stated the new practice is necessary because the processing centers at the ports of entry have been filled to capacity.\u00a0A CBP spokesperson said in an email Wednesday that port officials needed to focus on their primary mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPort of Entry facilities were not designed to hold hundreds of people at a time who may be seeking asylum. Balancing these demands, keeping illicit goods and people out of the country, and managing the influx of Central Americans seeking asylum (along with everything else we do) requires a careful balance of our resources and space,\u201d the statement said. &#8220;As in the past when we\u2019ve had to limit the number of people we can bring in for processing at a given time, we expect that this will be a temporary situation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not clear whether CBP&#8217;s practice of turning people away at the international bridges will change after Trump&#8217;s executive order Wednesday, which reverses the administration&#8217;s recent policy of separating adults and children after they entered the United States illegally between the ports of entry.<\/p>\n<p>On the bridge, Provencio stood firm and told Garcia that\u00a0he\u2019d do everything he could, but that the families wouldn\u2019t be allowed to cross\u00a0until there was room for them.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia and his fellow advocates and volunteers said they\u2019d wait.<\/p>\n<p>About an hour later, the families were let past the boundary and escorted into the CBP processing facility. Reporters and photographers were barred from entering because the process is &#8220;private and delicate,&#8221; an official said.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia emerged minutes later and\u00a0said this was how\u00a0the process is supposed to\u00a0operate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What you just saw happen is exactly what should happen \u2013 they were allowed to cross the international bridge,\u201d he said. \u201cThey presented to a CBP officer, the CBP officer obtained all the biographical information, saw their documents and now they are taken to the interior building where complete processing happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no telling whether the families&#8217; asylum claims will be granted, and statistics show it&#8217;s a long shot.\u00a0In the 2016 fiscal year, more than 65,000 asylum\u00a0claims were filed but\u00a0only 8,700 were granted \u2014 although it&#8217;s unclear in which year those successful claims were filed.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s out of Garcia&#8217;s control, but he\u00a0said he won&#8217;t stop helping\u00a0asylum seekers get\u00a0a chance to petition the government for relief.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve accompanied families where they have not let them in, where we&#8217;ve had to go back,&#8221; he said. &#8220;To what extent is [today&#8217;s outcome] the result of the attention that was given to them by the media, I guess we can all speculate. But yes, I have a suspicion that had we not been with them, that [the families]\u00a0would have been turned back.&#8221;<script async src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/20\/immigrant-families-asylum-seeking-border-aclu-el-paso\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After initially being turned away at the border, two families were allowed to enter the United States to seek asylum with help from Ruben Garcia, the director of a local shelter who has made a practice of escorting immigrants across the bridge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":594293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-594289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}