Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Migrants request buses to U.S. border
MEXICO CITY — Central American migrants in a caravan that has stopped in Mexico City demanded buses Thursday to take them to the U.S. border, saying it is too cold and dangerous to continue walking and hitchhiking.
Mexico City authorities say that of the 4,841 registered migrants receiving shelter in a sports complex, 1,726 are under the age of 18, including 310 children under five.
“We need buses to continue traveling,” said Milton Benitez, a caravan coordinator. Benitez noted that it would be colder in northern Mexico and it wasn’t safe for the migrants to continue along highways, where drug cartels frequently operate.
He said the route and departure time would be decided Thursday night.
The Mexican government has said most of the migrants have refused offers to stay in Mexico, and only a small number have agreed to return to their home countries.
There have already been reports of migrants on the caravan disappearing, though that is often because they hitch rides on trucks that turn off on different routes, leaving them lost.
However, the U.N. human-rights agency said its office in Mexico had filed a report with prosecutors in the central state of Puebla about two buses that migrants boarded in the last leg of the trip to Mexico City early this week, and whose whereabouts are unknown.
Mexico City is more than 600 miles from the nearest U.S. border crossing at McAllen, Texas, and a previous caravan in the spring opted for a much longer route to Tijuana in the far northwest, across from San Diego. That caravan steadily dwindled to only about 200 people by the time it reached the border.
Other activists and officials explained the options available to migrants in Mexico, which has offered them refuge, asylum or work visas. The government said 2,697 temporary visas had been issued to individuals and families to cover them while they wait through the 45-day application process for a more permanent status.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday announced new measures to deny the ability of migrants to seek asylum in the United States if they enter illegally.
The restrictions will rely on emergency powers invoked by the president to implement his “travel ban” in early 2017, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the plans. Legal challenges seeking to delay or block the asylum restrictions are expected to follow.
Privately, Homeland Security officials acknowledge that the new restrictions, at least on their own, are unlikely to achieve the kind of immediate deterrent effect the White House desires.
Detention capacity at U.S. immigration jails are already nearly maxed out, and court-imposed limits on the government’s ability to hold children in immigration jails for longer than 20 days mean most migrant families who arrive seeking protection are still likely to be released pending a hearing.
Under U.S. immigration laws, foreigners who arrive on American soil stating a fear of return to their home countries can request asylum as a shield against deportation. A U.S. asylum officer then conducts an interview to determine if the person has a “credible fear” of persecution, in which case the applicant is typically assigned a court date and released from custody.
Soaring numbers of migrants have entered the United States taking this administrative path in recent years, often crossing illegally to surrender to U.S. border agents. Since 2014, asylum claims at the border have increased fourfold, adding to a backlog of more than 750,000 pending cases in U.S. immigration courts. The new measures will continue to allow foreigners to request asylum if they enter the country legally at U.S. ports of entry, but not those who cross without authorization, according to officials familiar with the plans.
With so many asylum seekers arriving at border crossings, U.S. customs officers have been limiting the number of people allowed to approach the pedestrian entry lanes, a tactic known as “metering” that has triggered challenges in federal court.