Border officials turn back effort to apply for asylum
TIJUANA, Mexico — A group of Central Americans who journeyed in a caravan to the U.S. border resolved to ask for asylum Sunday in a direct challenge to the Trump administration, but U.S. immigration officials announced that the San Diego crossing was already at capacity.
Almost 200 refugeess, many traveling with children, had decided to apply for protection at the nation’s busiest border crossing after many fled violence in their home countries, organizers said. The caravan gained attention after President Trump and members of his Cabinet called it a threat to the United States.
Shortly before the refygees were expected to arrive, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said San Diego’s San Ysidro crossing would not immediately be able to handle more asylum seekers. It can hold about 300 people at a time, and officials had been warning that it might fill up.
“At this time, we have reached capacity at the San Ysidro port of entry for CBP officers to be able to bring additional persons traveling without appropriate entry documentation into the port of entry for processing,” Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in a statement. “Those individuals may need to wait in Mexico.”
Nicole Ramos, an attorney working on behalf of caravan members, expressed disbelief that U.S. authorities cannot process more asylum seekers until its backlog eases.
“They have been well aware that a caravan is going to arrive at the border,” she said at a news conference. “We can build a base in Iraq in under a week. We can’t process 200 refugees. I don’t believe it.”
The refugees had made their way north over the past month, many saying they feared for their lives in their home countries.
The Trump administration has been tracking the caravan since it started in Mexico on March 25 near the Guatemala border. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called the caravan “a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system.”
Administration officials have railed against what they call America’s “catch and release” policies that allow people requesting asylum to be released from custody into the U.S. while their claims make their way through the courts.