Confusion, fear spread on Mexico border with new US policy

7/17/19 – AP News

By María Verza

Asylum-seekers gathered in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Texas, grappled to understand what a new U.S. policy that all but eliminates refugee claims by Central Americans and many others meant for their bids to find a better life in America amid a chaos of rumors, confusion and fear.

The policy went into effect Tuesday and represents the most forceful attempt to date by President Donald Trump to slash the number of people seeking asylum in the United States. It denies asylum to anyone who shows up on the U.S. border after traveling through another country, something Central American migrants have to do.

Read more…

Advertisements

Unauthorized immigrants face public backlash in Mexico, survey finds

7/17/19 – Washington Post

By Kevin Sieff and Scott Clement

Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants after a year of heightened migration from Central America through the country, according to a survey conducted by The Washington Post and Mexico’s Reforma newspaper.

More than 6 in 10 Mexicans say migrants are a burden on their country because they take jobs and benefits that should belong to Mexicans. A 55 percent majority supports deporting migrants who travel through Mexico to reach the United States.

Read more…

The Latest: Mexico ‘does not agree’ with new US asylum rule

7/15/19 – AP News

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard says his country “does not agree with any measure that limits access to asylum. That was a reference to measures announced Monday by the U.S. government to end asylum protections for most migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ebrard said at a news conference that a “safe third country” agreement with the United States “is not going to happen,” though he later appeared to hedge on that, saying only it would need prior congressional approval.

Read more…

Facing New Asylum Curb, Nerves for Those Waiting at U.S.-Mexico Border

7/16/19 – The New York Times

By Julia Love

Number 12,026 – better known as Marcial Artigas, 33, from Holguin, Cuba – waited nervously at a migration office at the U.S.-Mexico border as a Mexican official called out numbers from a long list of hopefuls waiting to cross to the United States.

Artigas said he was praying his number would be called next, before a new U.S. policy announced on Monday enters into force that bars almost all immigrants from applying for asylum at the country’s southern border.

Read more…

New U.S. asylum policy does not make Mexico ‘safe third country’: minister

7/15/19 – Reuters

By Rebekah F. Ward

Photo by lopezobrador.org.mx

Mexico Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Monday that a new U.S. measure to sharply limit asylum claims did not in effect make Mexico a “safe third country,” adding that the Mexican Congress would have to approve any such classification first.

Read more…

How Mexico Beefs Up Immigration Enforcement To Meet Trump’s Terms

7/13/19 – NPR

By James Fredrick

Under pressure from President Trump’s tariffs threat, Mexico reached a deal with the United States on June 7 to step up immigration enforcement and to take in more migrants waiting for their U.S. asylum hearings.

The agreement reads: “Given the dramatic increase in migrants moving from Central America through Mexico to the United States, both countries recognize the vital importance of rapidly resolving the humanitarian emergency and security situation. The Governments of the United States and Mexico will work together to immediately implement a durable solution.”

Read more…

U.S. begins returning asylum seekers at Laredo crossing, expanding “Remain in Mexico”

7/9/19 – CBS News

By Camila Montoya-Galvez

The federal government has started returning non-Mexican migrants who claim asylum at the Texas border city of Laredo back to Mexico, the first expansion of the controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy since the U.S. and Mexico brokered a deal to avert President Trump’s tariff threats.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials were slated to make the first returns on Tuesday, a Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News. Ten people had been returned so far, according to a Mexican government official.

Read more…