Gang violence drives asylum seekers
TIJUANA, Mexico: The MS-13 gang made Jose Osmin Aparicio’s life so miserable in his native El Salvador that he had no choice but to flee in the dead of night with his wife and four children, leaving behind all their belongings and paying a smuggler $8 000 (R107 456).
Aparicio is undeterred by a new directive from US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions declaring that gang and domestic violence will generally cease to be grounds for asylum. To him, it’s better to take his chances with the American asylum system and stay in Mexico if his bid is denied.
“Imagine what would happen if I was deported to El Salvador,” he said on Wednesday as he waited at the border to enter the US.
The directive announced last Monday could have far-reaching consequences because of the sheer volume of people like Aparicio fleeing gang violence, which is so pervasive in Central America that merely stepping foot in the wrong neighbourhood can lead to death.
Several asylum seekers this past week cited gang violence as the main factor in fleeing their homelands. They planned to press on with their asylum requests in spite of the new rule.
The decision by Sessions came as the administration faced a growing backlash over immigration policies and practices that human-rights advocates view as inhumane, including separating children from immigrant parents. They levelled similar criticism over the asylum changes, which the White House says are necessary to deter illegal immigration.
US officials do not say how many asylum claims are for domestic or gang violence, but advocates for asylum seekers said there could be tens of thousands of such cases in the immigration court backlog alone.
Many Central Americans seeking asylum say they are fleeing from gangs known as “maras,” primarily the Mara Salvatrucha (or MS-13) and Barrio 18 groups. President Donald Trump has condemned those groups and the violence they commit in the US, referring to members as “animals”.
The gangs were formed by young Central Americans mostly in Los Angeles decades ago and spread to the so-called Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras when members were deported. Today, Honduras and El Salvador in particular routinely post some of the world’s highest murder rates.
In Central America, maras stake out and battle over turf, attacking anyone who unwittingly crosses through their area on the way to school or work as a possible rival.
Gangsters sometimes forcibly take over people’s homes. They extort bus drivers and small business owners, killing those unable or unwilling to pay. They threaten teens and young men in attempts to recruit them, and force girls and young women to be their girlfriends.
Maureen Meyer, director for Mexico and migrant rights at the Washington Office on Latin America advocacy group, said the ruling would “make it very difficult for a lot of the people seeking asylum in the United States”.
Meyer said Central Americans commonly request asylum for extortion, forced recruitment and violence against women. Where the gangs are prevalent, moving elsewhere is not an option, she said.
“People feel very insecure in their homes and continue to see the US as a safe haven in spite of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric,” Meyer said.
More than 100 asylum seekers gathered on Wednesday near the entrance to San Diego, the largest crossing on the US-Mexico border. Some Mexicans in the crowd said they were fleeing criminal groups. – AP
THEY EXTORT SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS, KILLING THOSE UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO PAY