{"id":600773,"date":"2018-07-06T09:06:33","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T15:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=600773"},"modified":"2018-07-06T14:11:59","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T20:11:59","slug":"the-trump-administration-isnt-keeping-its-promises-to-asylum-seekers-at-ports-of-entry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/the-trump-administration-isnt-keeping-its-promises-to-asylum-seekers-at-ports-of-entry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trump administration isn&#8217;t keeping its promises to asylum-seekers at ports of entry"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_600776\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-600776\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Brownsville_Bridge_Asylum_June_2018-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Javier Alejandro Vindel-Rodriguez\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Brownsville_Bridge_Asylum_June_2018-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Brownsville_Bridge_Asylum_June_2018-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Brownsville_Bridge_Asylum_June_2018-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Brownsville_Bridge_Asylum_June_2018-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Brownsville_Bridge_Asylum_June_2018.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Reynaldo Leal \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Javier Alejandro Vindel-Rodriguez on the Brownsville Express International Bridge, where U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents deterred asylum seekers like his family from crossing the border.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the weeks since President Donald Trump\u2019s now-rescinded family separation policy created chaos and confusion across the country, the messages from his administration and prominent Republican members of Congress have been clear: Seek asylum legally at official ports of entry and you won\u2019t lose your kids. There may be armed Customs and Border Protection agents standing at the halfway points of bridges \u2014 but simply wait a few days, declare to them that you are seeking asylum, and you\u2019ll get a fair shake.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A recent Department of Homeland Security news <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/myth-vs-fact-dhs-zero-tolerance-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release<\/a> says it\u2019s a \u201cmyth\u201d that the agency \u201cseparates families who entered at the ports of entry and who are seeking asylum \u2013 even though they have not broken the law.\u201d The release also says the agency \u201cis [not] turning away asylum seekers at ports of entry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But there\u2019s ample evidence to suggest otherwise. Court records and individual cases discovered by The Texas Tribune indicate that a number of asylum seekers who came to international bridges in Texas and California were separated from their children anyway \u2014 or were not able to cross the bridge at all after encountering armed Customs and Border Protection agents on the bridge. And experts argue there\u2019s no basis to the government\u2019s claim that there aren\u2019t enough resources to process asylum seekers.<\/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\/07\/05\/migrants-seeking-asylum-legally-ports-entry-turned-away-separated-fami\/\" 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 dir=\"ltr\">On top of that, experts say a quirk of U.S. immigration law might actually put people who try to seek asylum at the official ports of entry at a disadvantage to those who cross the border in other ways \u2014 such as wading across the Rio Grande. That\u2019s because unlike people who cross the border illegally, asylum seekers who come to ports of entry are not eligible to be bonded out of immigration detention by a judge; instead, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have total discretion over whether they can be released.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThere\u2019s no magic to the port of entry,\u201d said Camilo Perez-Bustillo, who works at El Paso-based advocacy group the Hope Border Institute. \u201cThis idea that that\u2019s the legal way to go &#8230; It\u2019s fundamentally misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This week Jennifer Harbury, an immigration lawyer based in the Rio Grande Valley, told the Tribune that she saw Mexican immigration officials standing at the foot of the bridge between Reynosa, Mexico, and McAllen and stopping people before they could begin to cross.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThere\u2019s two big guys in full dress standing right in front of the turnstile,\u201d Harbury said. \u201cThey\u2019ll walk up to you and \u2026 they just say, papers, please?\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s not clear whether this is a widespread practice. Harbury said the immigration officials she saw wanted migrants to prove they had entered Mexico legally. If they couldn\u2019t, she said, \u201cthey risk getting grabbed by the Mexican immigration people and deported.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Family separation said to go &#8216;beyond its lawful reach&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">At a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/22\/cruz-cornyn-immigrant-shelter-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">roundtable<\/a> in Weslaco, Texas&#8217; Republican U.S. Sens. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/john-cornyn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John Cornyn<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/ted-cruz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ted Cruz<\/a> both expressed keen interest in what was happening at America\u2019s international bridges. Cornyn specifically asked federal officials to confirm that asylum seekers who came to the bridges were not doing anything illegal. The following day, he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnCornyn\/status\/1010505271851077632\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a>: \u201cAsylum seekers that cross at ports of entry are not prosecuted\u201d for entering the U.S. illegally \u2014 which should mean that they&#8217;re not separated from their children.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But the Hope Border Institute has documented cases of family separation at ports of entry that go back as far as December 2016 \u2014 just after Trump\u2019s election. At that time, a woman named Eva, who said she faced death threats despite being in a witness protection program in Honduras, had asked for asylum with her husband and son at an El Paso port of entry. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.wixstatic.com\/ugd\/e07ba9_909b9230ae734e179cda4574ef4b6dbb.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> released by the Institute in January, she \u201cwas immediately detained and separated from her family\u201d and remained in detention more than a year later.<\/p>\n<p>Last September, Maria Vandelice de Bastos and her 16-year-old disabled grandson traveled from Brazil, were separated after arriving at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in New Mexico and have not seen each other since, the Tribune <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/13\/immigrant-child-asylum-disabilities-separated-grandmother-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> recently. In May, a Guatemalan woman identified as M.G.U. showed up at a California port of entry with her three sons \u2014 ages 2, 6 and 13 \u2014 and even though she convinced officials that she had a credible fear of returning to Guatemala, her kids were taken away about two weeks later, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/20\/lawsuit-central-americans-separated-children-texas-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> filed by the advocacy group Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in June.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">And last November, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/legal-document\/ms-l-v-ice-complaint\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> filed by the ACLU, a Congolese woman called Ms. L. and her then-6-year-old daughter were separated at a California port of entry after seeking asylum from religious persecution.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/f\/?id=00000164-3f39-d1bc-afef-7fbbdf010001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">criticized<\/a> the practice in a recent ruling on that lawsuit. \u201cThe parent has committed no crime,\u201d she pointed out, adding, \u201cMs. L. is an example of this family separation practice expanding beyond its lawful reach, and she is not alone.\u201d She went on to order the government to reunite separated families in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s not clear why these separations are happening, since none of the parents appear to have been prosecuted for entering the U.S. illegally. In the case of Ms. L., immigration officials initially claimed that they weren\u2019t sure that she was actually the girl\u2019s mother, the lawsuit documents say \u2014 which is another reason the Department of Homeland Security <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/myth-vs-fact-dhs-zero-tolerance-policy\" target=\"_self\">says<\/a> it might decide to separate families who seek asylum at ports of entry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But Sabraw rejected the government\u2019s argument: \u201cAbsent a finding the parent is unfit or presents a danger to the child, it is unclear why separation of Ms. L. [and her daughter] \u2026 would be necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">An ICE official said on Thursday that the agency does not release information on juveniles and referred a Tribune reporter to Customs and Border Protection. A CBP spokesman pointed the reporter to the news <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/myth-vs-fact-dhs-zero-tolerance-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release<\/a> the agency put out in June.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cornyn\u2019s office did not respond to requests for comment. A Cruz staffer referred reporters to the comments he made at the Weslaco roundtable, in which he encouraged families to seek asylum the &#8220;right way\u201d by going to ports of entry.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">A disadvantage in immigration detention<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As the Trump administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/17_0220_S1_Implementing-the-Presidents-Border-Security-Immigration-Enforcement-Improvement-Policies.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seeks<\/a> to detain more and more people while their asylum cases are pending \u2014 even if they\u2019ve never been charged with a criminal offense in the U.S. \u2014 asylum seekers at ports of entry may actually be worse off than those who cross a different way.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If people end up in immigration detention after they cross the border illegally between ports of entry \u2014 typically by crossing the Rio Grande or walking through desert \u2014 then ICE can set a bond for them (the price they must pay for their release). Those detainees can challenge the bond before an immigration judge, and the judge can agree to release them with a lower bond or with no bond at all \u2014 although reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2018\/07\/ice-family-separation-bond-denial-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">indicate<\/a> it\u2019s become harder for people to get released from immigration detention on bond.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But for those who are detained after seeking asylum at a port of entry, bond is generally not an option, and an immigration judge can\u2019t release them. Once they\u2019re in immigration detention, they are only eligible for what\u2019s called \u201cparole\u201d \u2014 temporary release from immigration detention \u2014 and that decision is up to ICE.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Perez-Bustillo, of the Hope Border Institute, said that puts asylum seekers who tried to cross the border the \u201cright\u201d way at a disadvantage. \u201cWhen it comes to discretion of ICE \u2026 you\u2019re totally helpless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A 2009 directive by the Obama administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ice.gov\/doclib\/dro\/pdf\/11002.1-hd-parole_of_arriving_aliens_found_credible_fear.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gave<\/a> immigration officials wide latitude to release people from detention on parole. But in 2017, the Trump administration told officials to use parole \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/17_0220_S1_Implementing-the-Presidents-Border-Security-Immigration-Enforcement-Improvement-Policies.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sparingly<\/a>\u201d; a lawsuit filed by the ACLU over the issue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/legal-document\/memorandum-opinion-granting-preliminary-injunction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims<\/a> that parole rates have since plummeted from 90 percent to close to zero.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This week, a federal judge in Washington <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/legal-document\/memorandum-opinion-granting-preliminary-injunction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ordered<\/a> the government to review parole decisions for a number of immigrant detainees who have been in detention for months or years. The government must release those detainees if they\u2019re moving forward with their asylum cases and if they\u2019re not a flight risk or a danger to the community, the ruling stated. But the decision only applies to five U.S. immigration offices across the country. El Paso is one of them, but Harlingen, located in the Rio Grande Valley, is not.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Meanwhile, the longer people remain in immigration detention, the harder it is for them to truly pursue an asylum case. Making phone calls can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/07\/03\/separated-migrant-families-charged-phone-calls-ice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expensive<\/a>, and detainees usually don\u2019t have internet, so finding a lawyer is nearly impossible. And even if they manage to find one, they\u2019re still at a major disadvantage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Ruby Powers, an immigration attorney based in Houston who recently interviewed about a dozen people at the Port Isabel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/27\/port-isabel-detention-center-long-history-problems-immigrants-reunification\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">detention center<\/a>, said she prefers to meet with asylum-seeking clients multiple times. But that\u2019s often not a luxury she can afford for clients in detention because visiting them is so time-consuming. She said she waited two hours in the Port Isabel facility just to get access to a room for the interviews she did recently.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">Experts cast doubt on &#8216;come back later&#8217; strategy<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Trump administration officials continue encouraging asylum seekers to go to ports of entry and insist that no one is being turned away. \u201cWe are telling these people, look, we are full today \u2026 come back later,\u201d explained David Higgerson, a field director for CBP, during last month\u2019s roundtable discussion in Weslaco.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He added that the agency has limited capacity and resources. A CBP agent might have to make a calculation such as, \u201cI can probably handle a family of six. I cannot handle a family of 10,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But Harbury said she\u2019s represented multiple clients who were turned away at the port of entry outright. Not long after Trump was inaugurated in early 2017, Harbury said a woman from Guatemala was told to turn back at a Texas port of entry and later reported that she was kidnapped near the foot of the bridge on the Mexican side.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The cartel members who kidnapped her demanded ransom, and the woman\u2019s family took weeks to scrape together the money, Harbury said. When the cartel released her and she turned up at a Reynosa shelter, the staff called Harbury, who said she met the woman there and physically walked her across the bridge into the U.S.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lindsay M. Harris, co-director of the Immigration and Human Rights clinic at the University of the District of Columbia\u2019s law school, said she doesn\u2019t buy the argument that CBP doesn\u2019t have the capacity to process all the asylum seekers who show up at ports of entry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIf you just look at the manpower that CBP has \u2026 it\u2019s just not a credible articulation of what\u2019s going on,\u201d she said. She also pointed out that the number of asylum seekers has not suddenly skyrocketed since Trump\u2019s election.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the federal fiscal year before Trump was elected, which ended in September 2016, the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/USCIS\/Outreach\/Upcoming%20National%20Engagements\/PED_CredibleFearReasonableFearStatisticsNationalityReport.pdf\" target=\"_self\">received<\/a> around 94,000 &#8220;credible fear claims&#8221; \u2014 a key step toward making an asylum request \u2014 and 24,500 of those were presented at ports of entry. The following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/USCIS\/Outreach\/Upcoming%20National%20Engagements\/PED_FY17_CFandRFstatsThru09302017.pdf\" target=\"_self\">year<\/a> that number dropped to about 78,600, with 24,400 of them presented at ports of entry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">On Monday, Selma Yznaga, an associate professor at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, said she spent four hours on the Mexican side of the bridge between Matamoros and Brownsville. She said 13 asylum seekers \u2014 three Cubans, four Hondurans and six people from African countries \u2014 were blocked from crossing the halfway point of the bridge by CBP officials.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThey\u2019re quite desperate,\u201d she said. \u201cIt helps just to be there, to talk to them, to try to lift their spirits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Two lawyers accompanied her, along with a humanitarian group from Matamoros, she said. The lawyers took down the asylum seekers\u2019 contact information so they could follow up once they were able to cross into the U.S.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Yznaga said she has taken several such trips in the last two months.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe rules keep changing,\u201d she said. At first, she felt she needed to explain to parents that they might be separated from their children. Now that Trump has signed an executive order that is supposed to have ended the practice, she now tells asylum seekers: \u201cOkay, today if you want to walk across, you won\u2019t be separated from your children, but you\u2019ll all be detained together. You may be deported after 20 days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While Yznaga stood on the bridge that Monday afternoon, CBP agents let two unaccompanied teenagers cross. Early the next morning, she said, she was told everyone else had been allowed through.<\/p>\n<p><i>Disclosure: The University of Texas &#8211; Rio Grande Valley has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune&#8217;s journalism. Find a complete list of them <\/i><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/support-us\/corporate-sponsors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/i><script 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\/07\/05\/migrants-seeking-asylum-legally-ports-entry-turned-away-separated-fami\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump administration officials insist that there is a &#8220;right way&#8221; for families fleeing persecution to seek asylum in the United States: Come to an official port of entry. But such families are still finding themselves in a lot of trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":600776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-600773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600773","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=600773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}