Migrants seek asylum at U.S. border
Central Americans’ trip in defiance of Trump ends at San Diego beach
A group of Central Americans who journeyed to the U.S. border in a caravan resolved to turn themselves in and ask for asylum Sunday in a direct challenge to the Trump administration — only to have U.S. immigration officials announce that the San Diego crossing was already at capacity and wouldn’t immediately be accepting them.
Nearly 200 migrants, many travelling with children, had decided to apply for protection at the crossing at San Diego, organizers said. But even before the migrants arrived, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the crossing can take in additional people only as space and resources become available.
The agency has said the port can hold about 300 people temporarily.
The migrants made their way northward by foot, freight train and bus over the past month.
The Trump administration has been tracking the caravan, calling it a threat to the United States since it started in Mexico on March 25 near the Guatemala border.
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, a process that can last a year.
Earlier Sunday, the migrants boarded five old school buses to attend a rally at a Pacific Ocean beach, with supporters gathering on both sides of the border fence and some climbing the barrier to sit or to wave signs.
The travellers face an uncertain future if they ask for asylum.
U.S. immigration lawyers warned them that they face possible separation from their children and detention for many months. Homeland Se- curity Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said asylum claims will be resolved “efficiently and expeditiously.” But she warned that any asylum seekers making false claims could be prosecuted, as could anyone who assists the migrants in doing so.
Administration officials and their allies claim that asylum fraud is growing and that many who seek it are coached on how to do so.
Asylum seekers are typically held for up to three days at the border and then turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If they pass an asylum officer’s initial screening, they may be detained or released into the U.S. with ankle monitors.