Asylum Delay, Deterrence, and Denial at the Tijuana/San Ysidro Port of Entry

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Molly Molloy

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Nov 10, 2016, 3:35:51 PM11/10/16
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Posted with permission. This is important information on the practices now being used at Tijuana/San Isidro.  I would be curious if any observers in the Juarez / El Paso, Nogales or at border crossings farther east have observed any of these practices.  Please let me know and/or get in touch with Alex and Ian directly.  If there are attorneys who can provide any assistance or clarification on these observations, I know that it would be appreciated.  
molly molloy

Memo: Asylum Delay, Deterrence, and Denial at the Tijuana/San Ysidro Port of Entry


ATTN: Immigrant/Refugee/Asylum Seeker Rights Advocates


From: Independent Human Rights Observers:

  • Alex Mensing - Legal Clinic Assistant, USF Immigration Law Clinic (former CARA Pro Bono Project Project Coordinator)

  • Ian Philabaum - Project Coordinator, Innovation Law Lab Centers of Excellence (former CARA Pro Bono Project Advocacy Coordinator)


Further Inquiries: ian.ph...@gmail.com, mensin...@gmail.com


Summary


The recent arrival of thousands of Haitians at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana has created a logistical and capacity challenge for the US and Mexican governments, as well as social service providers and human rights advocates. Some of the few investigations published so far, such as this piece in Truthout, have highlighted some of the institutional responses to the refugee situation. In order to better understand what is actually happening in Tijuana and at the port of entry itself, we went there to investigate and make first hand observations. Our goals were the following:

  • confirm whether & how asylum seekers are being denied the ability to turn themselves into US CBP

  • understand Mexican authorities’ involvement in US efforts to delay and/or deter asylum seekers

  • understand how information is being shared among asylum seekers and local service providers

  • interview asylum seekers, service providers, INAMI officials, and other stakeholders

Findings

  1. We visited three migrant shelters and several staging grounds for refugees, all in Tijuana, where we met with 35 individuals who were denied the ability to request asylum or deterred:

    1. 11 Family Units

    2. 20 Adults

    3. 15 Minors

    4. Nationality

      1. Mexican: 32

      2. Salvadoran: 2

      3. Belizean: 1

  2. US CBP is categorically denying Mexican citizens the right to seek asylum. Several first-hand accounts and many secondary ones tell this story: If a Mexican is fleeing and wants to present at the Tijuana/San Ysidro POE they are discouraged from doing so by Mexican government officials (Grupos Beta) and then they are prevented from doing so by US CBP. People report being told:

    1. you do not qualify

    2. Mexicans cannot get asylum

    3. your case is not good enough

    4. requesting and losing an asylum case will harm your ability to get a visa the right way

  3. We spoke with 4 family units (17 individuals) before they attempted to request asylum and explained to them the right to a fear interview or a hearing before an IJ, and that CBP does not have the authority to make a determination in an asylum claim. When they met with US CBP, they all expressed fear (we confirmed after they were repatriated), and they were all turned back.

    1. We accompanied these families to the Chaparral (Pedestrian West) US Port of Entry in San Ysidro between about 10:30am and 11:30am on Sunday, November 6, 2016. We witnessed firsthand when Mexican officials (Grupos Beta, military, & private security) tried to prevent them from reaching US CBP, saying that they had to wait for the Mexican officials to arrange and schedule an appointment with US officials in order to cross, and that they would be deported anyways.

    2. After we articulated these individuals’ right to proper processing by the US, a supervisor from Grupos Beta realized they had no intention of turning around. He then told us:

      1. All asylum seekers at the Tijuana POE must be accompanied by Grupos Beta

      2. Grupos Beta must inform US CBP ahead of time that they are bringing asylum seekers to the port of entry

      3. US CBP would be angry with Grupos Beta if advocates such as ourselves were allowed to pass all the way to the port of entry

      4. In his opinion, based on recent events, it was most likely that these families would all be sent back to Mexico by US CBP

  4. CBP takes Mexican asylum seekers' biographical data, sometimes their fingerprints, and then turns them back to Mexico. Mexico issues repatriation documents. We have no confirmation as to whether Mexican asylum seekers have been formally registered by US CBP.

  5. We met with 18 individuals (7 family units) who had been turned away by US CBP or Mexican Immigration officials while trying to request asylum in the US.

  6. Private security guards (not US immigration officials) check identification at the entrance to the POE - if you don't have it or don't have a prepared meeting with CBP via Grupos Beta, you can't actually meet with a CBP officer. In practice, almost exclusively Haitians are being processed.

  7. US CBP is sending Mexican asylum seekers back to the country they are fleeing without the opportunity to speak with a US asylum officer or immigration judge as the law requires.

  8. Treatment of the Haitian asylum seekers:

    1. According to Grupos Beta, US border officers allow about 40-60 Haitians to cross the border per day, and they have charged Grupos Beta with organizing a calendar system in which Haitians are given an appointment on a certain date.

    2. We met one person whose date was December 9th.

    3. On that day they go to the Grupos Beta office at 2pm, and Grupos Beta escorts the Haitian Asylum seekers at 3pm to the POE and CBP takes them into a specific area.

  9. Regarding the number system:

    1. Grupos Beta is managing a metering system in which every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday asylum seekers in Tijuana line up at a single trailer next to one of the 17 migrant shelters (Padre Chava) to receive their meeting date with CBP officials.

    2. To grant a date, Grupos Beta stamps a Haitian's "oficio de salida," their exit visa, which was issued when the entered Mexico and allows them to be in Mexico for 30 days.

    3. If you don't have the official INM exit visa, which Central Americans and Mexicans do not, you do not get a stamp, and you are not allowed to request asylum through that system.

  10. Central Americans are not issued exit visas, in fact if they come in contact with INM they are likely deported or even extorted and assaulted. However, a Grupos Beta officer in charge of issuing the numbers told us "if they wanted asylum they would have asked for an exit visa at the southern border.” If a Central American tried to do that they would be immediately deported regardless of fear, and they quite possibly would also get robbed and beaten.

  11. Haitian asylum seekers are now being deported from the US at a rate of two planes per week.

  12. We met with a Tijuana based US immigration attorney who described her experienced with asylum seekers at the Tijuana POE:

    1. CBP actively tries to deny her ability to present her clients as asylum seekers every time she accompanies a family to the border (a total of 5 times)

    2. Some of her clients have been denied by CBP and sent back to Mexico

    3. She has begun creating complete parole packets for her clients (like what an attorney would produce for an asylum seeker detained within the US), which she presents to CBP officers when she accompanies her clients to the Tijuana POE. Every client she provides a parole packet for has been paroled. This is not, however, a requirement for requesting asylum and a burden on those seeking relief and their advocates.

    4. Some Tijuana-based human rights groups, social service providers, and advocates have adopted the incorrect language being offered by Mexican immigration officials that “evidence” (parole packets) must be prepared prior to requesting relief in the US.


Follow up and Next Steps


  • We are staying in contact with the families we accompanied to the border to take detailed accounts of their interactions with US CBP officials when they requested asylum.  

  • We are searching to see if these individuals were ever registered by CBP and given A#s.

  • We would like someone to FOIA CBP interactions with the 17 individuals we accompanied to the San Ysidro POE. We know for a fact they were seen by CBP and have repatriation papers from INM. This could reveal misconduct by CBP officials.

  • We would like to enlist advocacy organizations to sign on to a request to DHS to investigate the following:

    • CBP acting as asylum granting authority of asylum seekers at San Ysidro POE

    • CBP deporting Mexican asylum seekers to the country they are fleeing without having claims reviewed by proper authorities

    • Collusion between US CBP, San Ysidro POE officials, and Mexican Immigration authorities to delay, deter, and deny asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico and at the San Ysidro POE
AsylumDelayDeterrenceandDenialattheTijuanaSanYsidroPortofEntry.pdf
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