There is a tragedy occurring along the U.S. and Mexico border, the result primarily of particularly harsh asylum policies enacted by the current U.S. administration. Now, there is a way for you to help the children stranded along the U.S. and Mexico border as they await, sometimes without their families, asylum adjudication.
According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, “This was not what U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials had promised migrants under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program. Designed to prevent asylum seekers from skipping court and disappearing into the U.S. illegally, the program requires them to await the outcome of their cases in Mexico while allowing them to cross legally for court hearing. Most must wait several months just for their initial hearing, and few have access to immigration lawyers in the U.S.”
The Times continued, “Over the last five months, the U.S. has returned more than 20,000 asylum seekers to Tijuana, Mexicali, Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros, according to Mexican officials. An analysis of immigration court records by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University showed that 1,155 “remain in Mexico” asylum cases had been decided by the end of June — only 14, or 1.2% — with attorneys. Not a single person had been granted asylum, and 12,997 cases remained pending.”
The results of this punitive system continue to fester. The Times reported: “Along the border in recent days, thousands of migrants have faced the same quandary. Many now penniless or saddled with debt from their trips north have decided to head back. Some said they still planned to pursue their U.S. immigration cases, but many more said they just hoped to make it home without being kidnapped or killed. Security guards at the parking lot warned that stepping outside put migrants at risk of being kidnapped by local drug cartels. The cities where asylum seekers are being returned by U.S. officials are among the most dangerous in Mexico.
Thankfully, our legal expert Diana Cuevas has created a new non-profit organization called Border Children Help. The sole purpose of the organization is to help abandoned children find a safe place to sleep, warm food to eat and a system that cares for them by finding official shelters or previously-screened foster families for them to stay. The organization works with the Tijuana Immigration Department to create a database with names, nationalities and family status so the system can track their families and give them legal immigration status in Mexico.
Can you help save these children by donating today? Just click on this name: Border Children Help. It is an active link that will take you to the page where you can donate to this cause. Do not click on the Contribute button at the bottom of this page, unless you intend to make a contribution to Expats In Mexico.
