NATION
Saturday, January 26, 2019
East Oregonian
A9
Asylum seekers worry new policy will mean more waiting
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
AND MARIA VERZA
Associated Press
TIJUANA, Mexico —
Eusebio Gomez thought his
arduous journey to the U.S.
and months-long wait in
the border town of Tijuana,
Mexico, would end when he
made it to American soil.
But a shift in the Trump
administration’s immigra-
tion policy could mean more
waiting.
The Mexican govern-
ment said Friday that the
United States plans to return
20 migrants per day at the
San Ysidro border crossing
as they await an answer to
their asylum requests. The
practice could be one of the
more significant changes to
the immigration system in
years.
Gomez, who was one of
25 names called for process-
ing Friday at San Ysidro,
said he would feel far less
safe waiting in Tijuana, with
its sky-high homicide rate.
The 18-year-old Honduran
said he wanted to come to
the U.S. to escape violence.
“It’s not about the dol-
lar, it’s about safety,” Gomez
said.
“The Mexican govern-
ment doesn’t agree with this
unilateral move,” but will
accept the migrants under
certain conditions, said
Roberto Velasco, spokes-
man for Mexico’s Foreign
Relations Department. He
said the U.S. government
wants to extend the practice,
known as “remain in Mex-
ico,” to the rest of the border
crossings.
Juan Portillo, 38, who
arrived in Tijuana two
months ago from Venezuela
with his wife and 7-year-old
daughter, said he was flee-
ing political oppression after
protesting President Nicolas
Maduro’s government.
“We do not feel safe”
in Tijuana, Portillo said,
shortly before Mexican
authorities whisked him,
his family and seven others
away in a van to be turned
AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File
In this Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, an asylum-seeking boy from Central America runs down a hallway after arriving from an im-
migration detention center to a shelter in San Diego.
over to U.S. authorities.
Advocacy groups con-
demned the idea. The South-
ern Poverty Law Center
warned it would create more
chaos at the border. Astrid
Dominguez, director of the
ACLU’s Border Rights Cen-
ter, said in a statement that
it endangers lives. A legal
challenge is expected.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
of California and Rep. Jer-
rold Nadler of New York,
both Democrats, released a
statement warning that the
changes would harm asylum
seekers.
“Asylum seekers are easy
prey for criminals and gangs
in Mexico, but the Trump
plan forces people to remain
in harm’s way, even if there
is a significant possibility
they will be persecuted or
tortured in Mexico,” they
said in a statement.
Velasco said around mid-
day Friday that the first 20
migrants would be returned
AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File
In this Nov. 21, 2018, file photo, a homeless man walks next to the fence that divides Mexico
and the U.S, in Tijuana, Mexico.
at the San Ysidro crossing,
across from Tijuana, “in the
next few hours.”
He said all are Central
Americans and all appar-
ently had temporary visas
in Mexico. That suggests
they may have been part of
last year’s migrant caravans,
many of whom had such
visas. U.S. officials have said
Mexican asylum seekers and
children traveling alone are
exempt from the new policy.
Mexico will not accept
migrants who have appealed
a denial of asylum, unac-
companied children or peo-
ple with health problems,
Velasco said.
He did not say how or
where Mexico would house
the migrants, who might
have to wait months or years
for their asylum claims to be
resolved.
Akbar Heybari of Iran,
who has been paying for a
Tijuana hotel with his wife
and children, ages 15 and
12, said he would much pre-
fer to stay with a niece who
is studying medicine at the
University of California,
Irvine.
“It’s good (in Tijuana),
but we don’t want to stay
here more,” said Heybari, a
grape farmer who plans to
seek asylum on grounds of
government persecution for
his political activities.
There are about 2,400
names on the asylum pro-
cessing list at San Ysidro.
U.S. officials have been call-
ing up to 100 names a day.
U.S. authorities plan to
bus asylum seekers back and
forth to the border for court
hearings in downtown San
Diego, including an initial
appearance within 45 days,
according to a U.S. official
familiar with the plan who
spoke on condition of ano-
nymity because it was not
yet publicly announced.
The Trump administra-
tion will make no arrange-
ments for them to consult
with attorneys, who may
visit clients in Tijuana or
speak with them by phone,
the official said.
The U.S. has witnessed
a surge in asylum claims,
especially from Central
American families. Due
largely to a court-imposed
20-day limit on detaining
children, families are typi-
cally released with a notice
to appear in immigration
court. With a backlog of
more than 800,000 cases, it
can take years to settle cases.
R
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KEYSTONE RV
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