EL PASO, Texas — Hairstylist Grisel Garcés has survived a harrowing four-month journey from her native Venezuela through tropical jungles, migrant detention centers in southern Mexico and then a harrowing train ride north to the U.S. border.
Now on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande across from El Paso, Texas, she anxiously awaits a U.S. Supreme Court decision on asylum restrictions that would affect her and thousands of other migrants at crossings along the roughly 1,900-mile (3,100-kilometer) border from Texas to California. And he’s doing it while living outside while winter temperatures drop across much of the U.S. and across the border.
She said she fled economic problems only to encounter new hardships, such as now having to shiver in temperatures colder than any she has ever experienced.
“The train ride was bad. Here the situation is even worse. You simply surrender to God’s mercy,” said Garcés, who left behind a school-aged daughter and hoped to come to the United States with her husband.
Their savings are depleted, they do not eat for several days. And on Thursday, Garcés waited and watched as hundreds of migrants formed a line to gradually pass through a gate in the border fence to be processed by U.S. immigration officials. She fears immediate deportation due to current asylum restrictions and dares not cross the shallow waters of the Rio Grande within sight.
Dozens of migrants spent the night on the concrete banks of the river, awaiting possible changes to asylum restrictions imposed in March 2020. In El Paso, sidewalks serve as living spaces outside a bus station and church for the few migrants who cannot immediately find space in all to a larger network of shelters guaranteed by the city and religious groups.
That Trump administration-era asylum ban — Title 42 — was granted a brief extension Wednesday by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. It is not clear when the Supreme Court will make a final decision. The Biden administration has asked the court to lift the restrictions, but not before Christmas.
Under Title 42, authorities have deported asylum seekers within the United States 2.5 million times and rejected the majority of people who applied for asylum at the border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Title 42 applies to all nationalities, but it has affected people from countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and most recently Venezuela the most.
Immigration advocates have called for an end to Title 42. They say the policy runs counter to U.S. and international obligations to people fleeing persecution and is outdated now that treatments for the coronavirus have improved.
Conservative-leaning states have appealed to the Supreme Court, warning that the increase in migration will affect public services and cause an “unprecedented calamity” they fear the federal government has no intention of dealing with.
In El Paso, members of the Texas National Guard took up positions as ordered by the state, while volunteers and police officers worried that some migrants might succumb to the cold. Night temperatures were around 30 degrees Celsius (below 3.8 degrees Celsius) and will be even lower in the coming days.
Elsewhere, hundreds of migrants formed a makeshift camp – using black plastic bags for crude tents – in a park in Matamoros, Mexico, near Brownsville, Texas.
Former Venezuelan Navy SEAL Carlos Hernandez, shivering in the cold after his recent deportation from the United States, spoke of how he, his wife and their 3-year-old daughter recently struggled through a frigid river before being returned back to reach the other side.
Hernandez said he fell out with his superiors in Venezuela because he refused orders to take action against government opponents in the navy. He said he hopes to cross over again and eventually reach Canada.
“It was very cold,” he said of the river crossing.
In Tijuana, Mexico, across from San Diego, about 5,000 migrants were staying in more than 30 shelters, with many more renting rooms and apartments. Sharp walls that rise 30 feet (9 meters) along the San Diego border make illegal crossings daunting.
Francisco Palacios waited several hours at a border crossing in the Tijuana area with his wife and 3-year-old daughter in the middle of the week before going to a hotel to take a nap. He said the family from the western Mexican city of Morelia is awaiting a court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that have prevented many from applying for asylum.
“We have no choice,” Palacios said Wednesday, explaining that his family had arrived in Tijuana two weeks earlier to escape violence and gangs that had for years extorted part of their income selling fruit from street carts.
Spagat reported from Tijuana, Mexico. Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Matamoros, Mexico.
What are 2 reasons people become refugees?
People become refugees for a number of different reasons, including: Read also : Food and energy issues dominate the G-20 meeting of the best diplomats during the war in Ukraine.
- Persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
- War.
- Ethnic or political violence.
What are 3 facts about refugees? Fast Facts: Refugees Developing countries host approximately 85% of the world’s refugees. 4.6 million people are asylum seekers (seeking refugee status) and an additional 53.2 million people are internally displaced. 41% of all forcibly displaced persons are children.
What are the three main reasons people become refugees?
War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are the main causes of refugees fleeing their countries. 69% of those displaced across borders come from just five countries: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar.
How do people become refugees?
Refugees are people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. See the article : US Senate passes $1.7t spending bill without Afghan refugee bill. They often had to flee with only the clothes on their backs, leaving behind homes, possessions, jobs and loved ones.
What is the difference between asylum seekers and refugees?
An asylum seeker is a person who seeks protection because they fear persecution or have experienced violence or human rights violations. A refugee is a person who has applied for protection and received refugee status. See the article : It’s business includes Discovery Center, KU Endowment, Parks + Rec. They may have been relocated to another country or are awaiting resettlement.
Can a refugee be an asylum seeker? As a signatory to the 1967 Protocol and through US immigration law, the United States has legal obligations to provide protection to those who qualify as refugees. The Refugee Act provides two paths to obtaining refugee status – either from abroad as a resettled refugee or in the United States as an asylum seeker.
What is the difference between immigrant refugee and asylee?
The difference between asylum seekers and refugees is largely procedural. A person who applies for asylum in the United States is called an asylum seeker. A person who applies for protection while still abroad and is then granted permission to enter the United States as a refugee is called a refugee.
What is the difference between asylum and refugee?
An asylee is a person who meets the definition of a refugee and is already present in the United States or seeking admission at a port of entry.
Can you go back to your country after asylum?
Generally, asylum seekers need travel documents or advance parole to gain re-entry into the US. Because asylum status cases vary from individual to individual, it is important to seek legal advice from an experienced immigration attorney before returning home or traveling abroad.
How long does it take for an asylum seeker to become a citizen? In general, you can apply for naturalization after a certain number of years of lawful permanent residence. Refugees and asylum seekers can apply for naturalization 5 years after the date of admission to legal permanent residence.
What happens after asylum is granted?
Those granted asylum can apply for permanent residence in the United States and gain a path to citizenship, and can also apply for their spouse and children to join them in the United States.
Can you travel after getting asylum?
A person with refugee or asylee status who wishes to travel outside the United States needs a refugee travel document to return to the United States.
What means asylum seekers?
An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but has not yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is awaiting a decision on their asylum application.
What is the true meaning of asylum? Asylum is a form of protection that allows an individual to remain in the United States instead of being removed (deported) to a country where they fear persecution or harm. Under US law, people who flee their country because they fear persecution can apply for asylum.
What is an example of an asylum seeker?
Refugees. Refugees and asylum seekers are those who have left their homes, usually by force. They may have physical health problems, but many have mental health consequences (eg PTSD, depression and anxiety) as a result of their war experiences, including the experience of leaving their homeland.
What is an asylum seeker meaning?
An asylum seeker is someone whose application for asylum has yet to be processed. Around a million people apply for asylum every year. National asylum systems are in place to determine who qualifies for international protection.
