{"id":615055,"date":"2018-08-17T08:42:12","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T14:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=615055"},"modified":"2018-08-17T08:42:12","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T14:42:12","slug":"asylum-seekers-say-they-cross-the-border-illegally-because-they-dont-think-they-have-other-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/asylum-seekers-say-they-cross-the-border-illegally-because-they-dont-think-they-have-other-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Asylum-seekers say they cross the border illegally because they don\u2019t think they have other options"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_615324\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-615324\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BP_Robert_Rodriguez_VGC_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Robert Rodr\u00edguez\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BP_Robert_Rodriguez_VGC_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BP_Robert_Rodriguez_VGC_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BP_Robert_Rodriguez_VGC_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BP_Robert_Rodriguez_VGC_TT-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BP_Robert_Rodriguez_VGC_TT.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ver\u00f3nica G. C\u00e1rdenas \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">On U.S. soil a short boat ride from Mexico, Border Patrol agent Robert Rodr\u00edguez, 38, checks a common landing area for people crossing the Rio Grande.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">MCALLEN, Texas \u2014 After a cop took Claudia to a field, grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her and her 7-year-old son Kevin this spring, it didn\u2019t take long for the 26-year-old single mother to decide it was time to get out of El Salvador.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">What happened next illustrates why so few Central American migrants enter the country the \u201cright way\u201d \u2014 at the international bridges, or ports of entry, where migrants can request asylum without crossing the border illegally.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Claudia said she quickly called a friend who knew a smuggler.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cShe told me that\u2019s what he did, that he was good \u2014 that he was responsible,\u2019\u2019 she said. The man told her he could do it for $5,000. But she would have to do it his way.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHe said, \u2018I do it but only with one method.\u2019 They only will take you across the river in a raft, and on the other side you walk,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI asked him, \u2018Why don\u2019t you do it [at the bridge]?&#8217; and he said they don\u2019t do it there because sometimes they get sent back.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_615329\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 650px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-615329\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Kevin_y_Claudia_reunited.jpg\" alt=\"Kevin and Claudia\" width=\"650\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Kevin_y_Claudia_reunited.jpg 650w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Kevin_y_Claudia_reunited-336x225.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin and his mother Claudia, hours after being reunited in South Texas in late July.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Every month, thousands of asylum-seeking families cross the Rio Grande and turn themselves in to Border Patrol rather than line up at a port of entry. Since October, more than 40,000 family members traveling together have presented themselves at the ports of entry without proper documentation; nearly twice that many have crossed into the country illegally over the same time period. (Neither U.S. Customs and Border Protection nor U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could say how many of the migrants who arrived at ports of entry requested asylum.)<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Trump administration sought to curb illegal crossings by imposing a \u201czero tolerance\u201d crackdown at the border this summer that left more than 2,500 children, including Claudia\u2019s son, separated from their parents.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIf you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry,\u201d Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen declared on Twitter at the height of the family separation crisis in June.<\/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\/08\/16\/migrants-who-cross-border-illegally-say-theyre-unaware-alternatives\/\" 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\">But that message ignored the deep-rooted factors \u2014 from smuggling practices to the complexities of U.S. immigration law \u2014 that drive Central American asylum-seekers to the river, despite the risks of a clandestine crossing.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Asylum-seekers like Claudia start on the path to an illegal crossing long before they actually reach the banks of the Rio Grande, relying on guidance from an informal network of well-meaning friends and often-unscrupulous smugglers. For years, asylum-seekers have taken that path almost by default, making it unrealistic to expect them to abruptly change approach in response to shifting political currents in the United States, according to interviews with migrants, immigration experts and U.S. law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For all the Trump administration\u2019s rhetoric, migrants almost never base their border-crossing strategy on policy pronouncements from Washington, said Stephanie Leutert, who runs the Mexico Security Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIn terms of how you do it and what\u2019s the right way \u2014 they\u2019re getting that information from their neighbors and from their friends,\u201d Leutert said. \u201cAnd two, it\u2019s smugglers selling packages. It\u2019s been successful for their friends, so they\u2019re going to sign up for that same package.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The smugglers \u201coperate everything on the south side\u201d of the border, said Robert Rodriguez, a Border Patrol agent in McAllen.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIf [migrants] start turning themselves in at the ports of entry,\u201d he said, \u201cthey don\u2019t make money.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_615326\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 650px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-615326\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Raft-1.jpg\" alt=\"Immigrants\" width=\"650\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Raft-1.jpg 650w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Raft-1-336x225.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Todd Wiseman \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A raft loaded with undocumented immigrants navigates the Mexican side of the Rio Grande across from Ruperto Escobar&#8217;s ranch in April 2016. The ranch sits along the Rio Grande, the international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico, in Starr County in South Texas. For generations smugglers have used the ranch to move people and product across the border.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Many immigrants who pay smugglers to help them cross the Rio Grande do not know that the bridges are even an option for asylum-seekers. Over the past three weeks, The Texas Tribune interviewed more than a dozen Central American migrants who crossed the river and turned themselves in to Border Patrol. Only two said they had heard immigrants could request asylum at the bridges.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Earlier this month, Honduran Javier Pi\u00f1eda, sitting in the McAllen bus station with his 4-year-old daughter, Daisy Daniela, explained why he crossed the river instead of the bridge. He said his brother in North Carolina arranged and financed his journey from Honduras, including the illegal crossing. He just followed instructions.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cFamily members who had come before told me how it was, and so I took their advice and then I came,\u201d Pi\u00f1eda said. Asked whether anyone had mentioned a bridge, he said, \u201cNo, because I\u2019m not familiar with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Guatemalan migrant Roberto Bernabe, who crossed the river with his 3-year-old daughter and was released with an ankle monitor in early August, also said he didn&#8217;t know he could request asylum at one of the bridges. \u201cWe arrived at the river and we know a friend there, and that\u2019s how we crossed,&#8221; he said.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It&#8217;s a more dangerous route for asylum-seekers, who sometimes walk for hours through the brushlands along the border, where heat-related incidents are the leading cause of death among migrants.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In late July, Yadira Veliz, 21, swam across the river with a group of asylum seekers and turned herself in to Border Patrol. She was eight months pregnant.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI was just asking God for help,\u201d said Veliz, who was fleeing Honduras. \u201cI just wanted to cross.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But while theoretically safer, crossing the bridge carries its own risks. Despite the government\u2019s assurances, over the years there have been sporadic reports of U.S. officials separating migrant parents from their children at ports of entry. Other asylum-seekers say they have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caller.com\/story\/news\/texasregion\/2018\/06\/22\/asylum-seekers-turned-away-border-officials-say-theres-no-room\/726363002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">turned away<\/a> by armed Customs and Border Protection officials stationed on the bridges who claim the ports of entry are over capacity.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI think it\u2019s visually so intimidating,\u201d said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a political scientist at George Mason University and the author of a book about organized crime in Mexico. \u201cThey don\u2019t believe they can enter through there. However, they know they can do it with a smuggler.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Honduran Jos\u00e9 Aguilar, 35, crossed the international bridge between Brownsville and Matamoros with his two children in early August. But unlike most Central American immigrants, Aguilar had a visa allowing him to travel freely through Mexico, without help from a smuggler. In the Mexican city of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, about an hour and a half from the border, Aguilar got assistance from an evangelical group, which recommended that he bring his family to a port of entry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;I know that crossing the bridge, doing things legally, is a point in my favor,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And if I cross the river and the Americans catch me, that&#8217;s a point in their favor because then I would be invading their territory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_615327\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 650px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-615327\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Jose_Aguilar_and_sons_VGC_TT.jpg\" alt=\"Jos\u00e9 Aguilar\" width=\"650\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Jose_Aguilar_and_sons_VGC_TT.jpg 650w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Jose_Aguilar_and_sons_VGC_TT-336x225.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ver\u00f3nica G. C\u00e1rdenas \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jos\u00e9 Aguilar, 35 and his sons Dariel, 10 and Ezequiel, 7, from Honduras, get ready to be processed after waiting to seek asylum on the Mexico side of the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, for three days.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Over the years, however, crossing the Rio Grande has had certain procedural advantages. Immigrants who enter the country illegally are generally eligible to be released on bond, while those who present themselves at the bridges stay in detention unless Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers decide to release them on \u201cparole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt\u2019s actually better for you in a number of ways to cross the river,\u201d said Jeremy Slack, an immigration expert at the University of Texas-El Paso. \u201cThe likelihood you\u2019ll be released on bond is greater. Instead of having to pursue your asylum claim entirely in detention centers, you can do so from the place that you\u2019re intending to live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Federal courts have taken notice of this legal quirk, which successive administrations in Washington have<b> <\/b>glossed over while urging migrants not to cross the border illegally. Immigrants who arrive at a port of entry are left in a sort of statutory limbo \u2014 deemed legally \u201cinadmissible\u2019\u2019 \u2014 whereas those who cross the river without permission have due process rights that allow them to appear in front of a judge.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIronically, this dichotomy conferred greater legal protection upon aliens who entered the U.S. illegally and secretly than those who attempted to seek refuge by presenting themselves unsuccessfully to the officials at ports of entry,\u201d the Yale Law &amp; Policy Review <a href=\"https:\/\/pdfs.semanticscholar.org\/109e\/ec8da276d707f917dcf31064dbe6c0255235.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote in 2000<\/a>, discussing a 1984 appellate court decision in an asylum case. \u201cBecause aliens who illegally crossed the border in the dead of night achieved a \u2018deportable\u2019 status while aliens detained when attempting to enter lawfully were deemed \u2018excludables,\u2019 the law rewarded those illegal and undocumented aliens who successfully avoided our laws by evading interception.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The rules for border crossers changed abruptly this spring, though, when the Trump administration implemented its controversial plan to criminally charge every migrant who crossed between the ports of entry, including asylum-seeking parents. At the end of June, Trump rolled back the policy after it provoked a bipartisan firestorm, setting the stage for hundreds of family reunifications over the last month and a half. (More than 500 families remain separated.)<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Claudia and Kevin were reunited on July 23 after about two months apart. Now, they\u2019re settled in northern Virginia, as Claudia\u2019s asylum case works its way through the immigration system. In her asylum paperwork, Claudia says she was threatened by a cop who was in cahoots with a gang member she had filed a complaint against.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite the trauma of the past few months, Claudia said she doesn\u2019t think crossing at a port of entry would have guaranteed a better outcome for her and Kevin. While she was in detention, she said, she met a Brazilian woman who crossed a bridge and was still separated from her child. And she pointed out that there are also risks to waiting on the Mexican side of the border, where smugglers control the flow of migrants and stories of kidnappings abound.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt\u2019s a very big river and anything can happen,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the same with the bridge &#8230; in Mexico, there\u2019s a little bit of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas-El Paso have been financial supporters 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><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/support-us\/corporate-sponsors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asylum-seekers start on the path to an illegal crossing long before they actually reach the banks of the Rio Grande, relying on advice from an informal network of well-meaning friends and often-unscrupulous smugglers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140],"class_list":["post-615055","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\/615055","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=615055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}