REPS WANT ANSWERS ON REPORTS OF OUTDOOR CELL
Border Patrol agents keeping asylum seekers between border walls
Several members of Congress are pushing back after reports of the space between the border walls that separate San Diego from Tijuana being used as an open-air holding cell for migrants.
Reps. Juan Vargas, Robert Garcia and Delia Ramirez, all Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, wrote a letter to the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol expressing “grave concern” and asking questions about the situation. In its opening sentence, the letter cites reporting by The San Diego Union-Tribune of asylum seekers being held in the area for nearly a week without access to food or adequate water.
“We are appalled by the mistreatment of any individuals seeking asylum,” the letter says. “No one can be subjected to illtreatment and held in lifethreatening conditions.”
The space between the border walls is U.S. soil.
The letter notes that the migrants believed themselves to be in the custody of Border Patrol agents. As noted in previous reporting, when the Union-Tribune saw a gate in the second layer of border barrier open and the migrants began to walk and run
out of the space, Border Patrol agents quickly stopped them and returned them to the area between the walls.
The letter refers to guidance from Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency to Border Patrol, that migrants shouldn’t be held in its custody for more than 72 hours, should receive meals at scheduled intervals and should have access to restrooms and essential hygiene items.
“All efforts must be made to
ensure care for migrants, to protect human life, and to uphold the right to seek asylum,” the letter says.
Since the Union-Tribune’s article was published in April, agents have continued to hold migrants in the area, according to Nina Douglass of the collective Friends of Friendship Park. She and other activists have been taking food and blankets to the migrants and have started a wish list on Amazon to help respond to the situation. She said Sunday
that more than 100 migrants were waiting between the walls.
CBP did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.
The letter asks the agency to respond to several questions by June 7, including whether the Border Patrol considers the migrants to be in its custody and whether it monitors the length of time that migrants are waiting in the space between the walls.