More 'caravan' migrants enter U.S., Sessions sends judges to border

[webfact]

More 'caravan' migrants enter U.S., Sessions sends judges to border

By Delphine Schrank

 

Members of a caravan of migrants from Central America enter the United States border and customs facility, where they are expected to apply for asylum, in Tijuana, Mexico May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

 

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - A further 49 Central Americans crossed into the United States to seek asylum on Wednesday, part of a high-profile migrant caravan that prompted Attorney General Jeff Sessions to beef up legal resources on the Mexican border.

 

The 49 migrants, including women, children and transgender people who had been waiting at the U.S. gate for about 15 hours, were let through by midday, according to the group's organizers, raising the total number who have crossed to 74.

 

Since Monday, border officials have allowed through only a trickle at a time, saying that the busy San Ysidro crossing to San Diego is saturated and the rest must wait their turn.

 

In response, the Justice Department was sending 35 additional assistant U.S. attorneys and 18 immigration judges to the border, Sessions said, linking the decision to the caravan.

 

"We are sending a message worldwide: Don't come illegally. Make your claim to enter America in the lawful way and wait your turn," he said, adding that he would not let the country be "overwhelmed."

 

Despite unusual attention on the annual, awareness-raising caravan after President Donald Trump personally took issue with it last month, the most recent data through December does not show a dramatic change in the number of Central Americans seeking asylum.

 

Apprehensions of people crossing to the United States illegally from Mexico were at the highest level in March since December 2016, before Trump took office.

 

More than 100 members of the caravan, most from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, have been camped in a square near the entrance of the San Ysidro pedestrian bridge that leads from Mexico to the United States, waiting for their turn to enter the border checkpoint.

 

At least 28 migrants who made it into the United States on Wednesday had anxiously filed through the walkway to the U.S. gate the night before. Two by two, they walked up to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer standing in the gate to ask if they might pass through.

 

First to try was a man and his small nephew, a football under his arm; then a mother and child; then a woman with her grandsons.

 

Turned away on Tuesday night, they bedded down in a small space pressed up against metal bars separating them from the United States, bundled against the cold under blankets and sheets of tarpaulin tenting.

 

Among them was Reina Isabel Rodriguez, who had fled Honduras with her grandsons. Throughout the caravan's 2,000-mile (3,220-km) odyssey from southern Mexico, the possibility that U.S. officials might reject her plea for asylum, and of being separated from the boys for not being their biological parent, had never seemed so real.

 

"I'm scared, I'm so scared, I don't want to be sent home," she said, tears streaming down her face. Christopher, 11, watched her with anguish, and Anderson, 7, sat at her feet, his head drooping, a toy robot in his lap.

 

Rodriguez was among the many migrants of the caravan who told Reuters they were forced from their homes by Central America's brutal Mara street gangs, along with other life-threatening situations.

 

Trump's administration cites a more than tenfold rise in asylum claims compared with 2011 and growing numbers of families and children - who are more likely to be allowed to remain while their cases await hearing - as signs that people are fraudulently taking advantage of the system.

 

Trump wants to tighten U.S. law to make it harder for people to claim asylum. For now, though, despite his orders to keep such migrant caravans out of the country, international and U.S. law obliges the government to listen to people's stories and decide whether they deserve shelter.

 

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday it had launched prosecutions against 11 "suspected" caravan members on charges of crossing the border illegally.

 

Nicole Ramos, an attorney advising caravan members in Mexico, said she did not believe the individuals facing U.S. criminal charges were part of the caravan group.

 

"Quite a few people have claimed to be part of the caravan, including a sizable contingent of Guatemalan men who were never part," Ramos said.

 

(Reporting by Delphine Schrank, additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-03

[skorp13]

Out, get 'em out! No entrada!

Sorry to be so cold blooded about this but the U.S. can not be taking in the disfortunate from other countries while it so grossly continues to ignore its own. Also these people need to be vetted properly for their backgrounds as well as any prior criminal history and we can't have them wait on the U.S. side of the border where they can commit crimes against U.S. citizens

[mikebike]

1 hour ago, skorp13 said:

Out, get 'em out! No entrada!

Sorry to be so cold blooded about this but the U.S. can not be taking in the disfortunate from other countries while it so grossly continues to ignore its own. Also these people need to be vetted properly for their backgrounds as well as any prior criminal history and we can't have them wait on the U.S. side of the border where they can commit crimes against U.S. citizens

If you know how bad it is for disfortunate US citizens in the greatest country in the world imagine what it must be like for the disfortunates in shithole countries without the resources of the richest country the world has ever seen and without the US's robust human rights laws...

[CharlesSwann]

Stop this nightmare. The more hope these people are given, the more they will hurl themselves at the fence.

Have buses and armed guards ready on the other side of the border to take them straight back where they came from. Eventually they will get the message and stop coming, and perhaps start working to get their own country in order.

 

The US and Canada were built on immigration - some immigration will always be necessary - but it should take place by prior application and with due process. No immigrants should be allowed in just by turning up at the border. It's chaotic and unseemly. And genuine asylum seekers such as politicians, journalists, scientists etc, should have documentary proof of persecution. These simple rules solve the entire problem.

[mikebike]

CharlesSwan:

 

You do realize "the other side of the boarder" is a soveriegn country where the USA has no jurisdiction to "place guards" or transport anyone anywhere, right?

[CharlesSwann]

Just now, mikebike said:

CharlesSwan:

 

You do realize "the other side of the boarder" is a soveriegn country where the USA has no jurisdiction to "place guards" or transport anyone anywhere, right?

I'm thinking Central American countries would agree to the deportation process. Mexico doesn't want these caravans travelling through either. And their countries of origin presumably don't don't want their population drained. It would only be temporary in any case, until the people get the message.

[mikebike]

6 minutes ago, CharlesSwann said:

I'm thinking Central American countries would agree to the deportation process. Mexico doesn't want these caravans travelling through either. And their countries of origin presumably don't don't want their population drained. It would only be temporary in any case, until the people get the message.

There seems to be no evidence to back your theory that any central/south American countries would be amicable to forfit their sovereign rights to the USA. In fact most discussion seems to point to the polar opposite.

[CharlesSwann]

2 minutes ago, mikebike said:

There seems to be no evidence to back your theory that any central/south American countries would be amicable to forfit their sovereign rights to the USA. In fact most discussion seems to point to the polar opposite.

I don't pretend to have any evidence of anything - it's just common sense. No country is happy to have its population drained.

 

Pride and 'Sovereign rights' needn't come into it. This is a crisis situation and needs decisive action. The countries en route could provide their own armed escort for the deportation but I suspect the main consideration for them is not to have to pay for it. Very well, then let the US/Canada pay for it - the cost would be negligible for them and it would solve an immense problem. The only problem is with those who come from elsewhere - Africa etc. It will cost more to fly them back - but again, it's only temporary until the people get the message.

 

It's the only way. Letting people in who turn up at the border (even selectively) is an invitation to all the low-lifes and you will have an endless swarm of them at the border clamouring to get in (as at Calais).

[mikebike]

I just don't see any political will in any of these other countries to do what you suggest. They just  do not have the same issues with migration that the USA does. These countries are not having their populations drained as you imply.

[meinphuket]

These economic migrants should be returned to the first country of entry ie. Mexico which is considered a democratic nation, and apply for asylum there. The American pie is only for legitimate migrants, not illegals.

[mikebike]

5 minutes ago, meinphuket said:

These economic migrants should be returned to the first country of entry ie. Mexico which is considered a democratic nation, and apply for asylum there. The American pie is only for legitimate migrants, not illegals.

So if I am understanding you, if these particular migrants/assylum-seekers were Mexican you'd be fine with it, correct?

[CharlesSwann]

15 minutes ago, mikebike said:

I just don't see any political will in any of these other countries to do what you suggest. They just  do not have the same issues with migration that the USA does. These countries are not having their populations drained as you imply.

I don't see any problem with getting Central American countries behind systematic deportation - assuming there is some degree of regional will and solidarity. The US/Canada could make it contingent on continued economic aid/cooperation.

 

The main thing is the political will in the US to get the necessary laws in place. Talking tough is the necessary first step - Trump is doing that - credit to him - the more outrageous the rhetoric, the better. I suggest now he needs to promote a better immigration-by-application system. That will give the US moral grounds to deny all who just turn-up. Thereon, it becomes a humanitarian issue to bus them back - with nice packed lunches along the way.

 

Any other solution?

[FitnessHealthTravel]

California will take care of them.

[Scott]

1 minute ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

California will take care of them.

The asylum process is under international agreements.   No state is responsible to take care of them.   It falls on the federal gov't.  

 

[Stargeezr]

These people have no rights to show up at the USA border and try to enter, anymore

than the Africans did or do in France or anywhere in Europe.  They can be sent back to their home country.

 put them all in freighters and ship them all back south.

Geezer

[stevenl]

31 minutes ago, CharlesSwann said:

<snip> I suggest now he needs to promote a better immigration-by-application system. <snip>

What is wrong with the present system? Not saying it is good, but for you to claim it must be better you must also know what is wrong.

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

These people have no rights to show up at the USA border and try to enter, anymore

than the Africans did or do in France or anywhere in Europe.  They can be sent back to their home country.

 put them all in freighters and ship them all back south.

Geezer

Nonsense. They have every right to show up at the border and try to enter legally. The application may be denied or approved.

[Stargeezr]

Well Hero  I hope that you personally open your house to a few of them then.

Geezer

[CharlesSwann]

23 minutes ago, stevenl said:

What is wrong with the present system? Not saying it is good, but for you to claim it must be better you must also know what is wrong.

It evidently doesn't work. What is your solution?

 

I say improve it by publicity and efficiency and clear rules - how about an android app? - and with a good chance of entry for those who satisfy all the criteria.

 

Mainly the whole thing hinges on turning away opportunistic applicants at the border. They turn up because they have hope - first of getting in legally, then of getting in illegally. Some people are apparently let in on application at the border. Just don't. The US should pay for full-page ads in every local paper every week in Central America telling people they will be turned away at the border - small price to pay for all the trouble saved.

 

At the moment the whole policy is garbled and producing undignified chaos. There is still scant ability to tell genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants. As I understand it, any claim of asylum has to be heard according to US law. Problem is, people are effectively now claiming 'economic asylum'. It's a mess.

[beldin]

First, the caravan is tiny, There have been almost as many judges sent to the border as there are asylum seekers. Secondly, they are asylum seekers and as such are entitled to enter to claim asylum and have their individual case evaluated fairly before they can be removed according to treaties that the US is party too, Perhaps if the US didn't spend so much time messing around with countries in their own backyard they would see fewer people seeking asylum from them. 

 

The irony of the anti-immigrant rhetoric on what is essentially an immigrant forum is not lost on me. 

 

[sukhumvitneon]

3 hours ago, mikebike said:

If you know how bad it is for disfortunate US citizens in the greatest country in the world imagine what it must be like for the disfortunates in shithole countries without the resources of the richest country the world has ever seen and without the US's robust human rights laws...

So how many are you taking in mike?  Oh right, probably none despite spouting "feel good" platitudes. You're asking others to bear the burden of increased strain on public services, higher rents, larger class sizes, lower wages, larger budget deficits for spending on welfare that these people can and will collect on.  This whole situation is a total joke.  I hope the media keeps pushing it though, it's going to really help out Trump in 2020, as it's a core reason why Trump won and middle class families and working people are fed up with paying the tab for so-called "refugees" and freeloaders, to say nothing of pointless wars overseas, NATO, and so forth.

 

The US isn't a flophouse and the whole asylum process is becoming massively abused not just in the US but in Europe as well.  Funny how these people pass through umpteen different countries to get to the US, despite being legally obligated to request asylum in the first safe country they arrive in.  They could've gone to Panama or Costa Rica, which are safe and stable, but then again then again those places don't give the whole show away to anyone with a real or imagined sob story.

[AsiaHand]

Sessions has more balls then any previous Attorney General in The US in years. This is a smart move.I bet that this was his idea and not Trump's.

[lovelomsak]

2 hours ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

California will take care of them.

If they can make it to a sanction city huh.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, CharlesSwann said:

It evidently doesn't work. What is your solution?

 

I say improve it by publicity and efficiency and clear rules - how about an android app? - and with a good chance of entry for those who satisfy all the criteria.

 

Mainly the whole thing hinges on turning away opportunistic applicants at the border. They turn up because they have hope - first of getting in legally, then of getting in illegally. Some people are apparently let in on application at the border. Just don't. The US should pay for full-page ads in every local paper every week in Central America telling people they will be turned away at the border - small price to pay for all the trouble saved.

 

At the moment the whole policy is garbled and producing undignified chaos. There is still scant ability to tell genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants. As I understand it, any claim of asylum has to be heard according to US law. Problem is, people are effectively now claiming 'economic asylum'. It's a mess.

I agree it is slow and applications should be handled much faster.

 

But the main thing here is that IMO your post shows you have no idea about the people and the requirements they have to meet.

[samran]

41 minutes ago, beldin said:

First, the caravan is tiny, There have been almost as many judges sent to the border as there are asylum seekers. Secondly, they are asylum seekers and as such are entitled to enter to claim asylum and have their individual case evaluated fairly before they can be removed according to treaties that the US is party too, Perhaps if the US didn't spend so much time messing around with countries in their own backyard they would see fewer people seeking asylum from them. 

 

The irony of the anti-immigrant rhetoric on what is essentially an immigrant forum is not lost on me. 

 

I always find it funny the usual whiners and whingers don’t see the irony. Thailand essentially lets them turn up with no vetting and only a few bucks chucked in the bank, yet somehow they are God’s gift and these Central Americans are just scum. 

 

Says a lot about them really when you think about it. 

[underlordcthulhu]

I thought the US was the worst country in the world? At least that's what the media and university professors taught me. Funny how so many people seem to be literally dying just to get in.

[Guest Jerry787]

12 hours ago, skorp13 said:

Out, get 'em out! No entrada!

Sorry to be so cold blooded about this but the U.S. can not be taking in the disfortunate from other countries while it so grossly continues to ignore its own. Also these people need to be vetted properly for their backgrounds as well as any prior criminal history and we can't have them wait on the U.S. side of the border where they can commit crimes against U.S. citizens

Asian Countries can't accept anymore falang, - OUT get 'em out ! No Entry !!!
Sorry to be so cold blooded about this, but the majority or racist white skins are the one wearing the drunkie red hat "make america great again" and they happy of bombing the globe for oil, kick off migrants (from the countries they bombed) , allow police to shot at sight, without any motif, at any black skin citizen, and of course they also are proud to have voted trumpie, meantime seating in any tropical country and blathering !

Edited May 3, 2018 by Jerry787
grammar

[Scott]

In this case the whole process is working reasonably well.   They showed up at the border, they are being admitted in an orderly process, the gov't, is sending personnel to process the asylum claims.  

 

The ones still on the Mexican side of the border are living in less than desirable conditions, but they are in no immediate distress.   I suspect that they had equally difficult conditions on the journey.  

 

The asylum claims are being dealt with quickly and judiciously.  

 

Whether one agrees with the process or not, it is covered by international law to which the US is a signatory and is, as of now, upholding well.  

 

 

[skorp13]

On 02/05/2018 at 7:16 PM, mikebike said:

If you know how bad it is for disfortunate US citizens in the greatest country in the world imagine what it must be like for the disfortunates in shithole countries without the resources of the richest country the world has ever seen and without the US's robust human rights laws...

I have been to some extremely poor countries in my travels. I do feel for them but we can't just disband our CBP agents leaving the border wide open for whoever to come in and out whenever. That is just extremely recless and dangerous.

 

There has to be a process of checks and vetting to allow people to come here legally. They must have a place to stay, someone to take care of them, not simply relying on U.S. taxpayer money, that is not what we pay taxes for