Central American Asylum-Seekers Continue To Arrive In Tijuana

Our top story today on the day addition, immigrants attached to what is been called the caravan moving across Mexico have been arriving in Tijuana this week. Authorities say between two and 300 people, mostly women and children will be in Tijuana before they request asylum from U.S. authorities at the border. Most of the immigrants are from Central America where they say they are in danger because of rampant game -- gang violence. Trump has tweeted about his outrage over this and he said security should not let these caravans into our country were joining me now is reporter Jean Guerrero who was in Tijuana yesterday . Welcome. Thank you. Where did you go yesterday, what did you see? First I went to the sanctuary port of entry where there are already dozens of immigrants lining up every day that have been down there. I have seen large groups of people, sitting on the ground, taking naps, just waiting for their turn to present themselves, and ask for asylum, they're basically using a ticketing system that they used with Haitian migrants that came through a couple years ago. And just trickling through but most of these migrants in the caravan to intend to prevent themselves on Sunday and a very large group and a lot of those people are going to be staying for the time being at migrant soldiers so, I went to a couple of the shelters were mostly I saw women and children, just trying to kill time until Sunday comes, watching TV, the kids playing, a lot of community members bringing pastries and toys for the kids. Did you speak to any of the immigrants? I did. So one of the people that I spoke to, was Jamie, she was a 21-year-old woman from Honduras, and I noticed her because she was crying. And cradling her baby and she just seemed very very scared. So I went up and I talked to her about her story, and what brought her here, so here is a little bit of what she had to say. I have heard they do not give asylum anymore, that the U.S. is not helping anyone. That is a lie. That they are going to deport me and take my daughter away. So, she had a really harrowing story that I heard from many of the people who were coming from Honduras. Talking about, seeing friends killed in the streets, after the presidential election, late last year, there was a very divisive election, allegations of fraud, big protests and violent clashes with the police, and people saying that they are now being targeted for their opposition, so that is why a lot of these people are coming from Honduras, to escape that violence, so the majority of the people from the caravan are from Honduras. What generally happens when someone asks for asylum at the border? Generally, when a person asks for asylum at the boards of entry, what is supposed to happen is that they are given a credible fear interview, and if they are determined to have that credible fear of returning to their country, then there supposed to have a right to present their asylum cases in court. And before they can appear in court, are they allowed into the country? Exactly, so, if a person presents themselves at the ports of entry, and then says they feel returning to the country they want asylum, officials who are posted at the border, for example border patrol, customs and border protection, do not have the right to turn these people away. They need to take them into custody and give them a hearing with an asylum officer. Is there any plan as to how the immigrants from the caravan, are going to approach the border, and ask for asylum? Like I said, some of them are already going through on their own, mostly the women and the children who just want to get across as quickly as possible, but the plan, for the caravan, is that most of these people, maybe 200 or 300 of them are planning to present themselves on Sunday. The reason that these caravans are organized, and part is because there are safety in numbers. They want to travel together, because they are often the victims of exploitation, by criminal gangs, in Mexico that either work in coordination with those in Central America, or simply target them because they are such a venerable group, so it's because of the safety numbers, but it's also because there have been increasing reports of asylum-seekers being turned away at the border. In the way that is not compliant with the laws that we have, so they are hoping that by raising awareness, and coming in these big groups and having all of this media attention will ensure that they can be taken into custody and hopefully, try to make their case. Have there been efforts to dispatch more immigration judges, or prosecutors, to the border to expedite the asylum request? Yes, so the Department of Justice, ordered U.S. attorneys to send more prosecutors and immigration judges to adjudicate these quite -- cases quickly. Exactly the numbers and how much of a resource booth there is, I am still waiting to hear back from the departments on this specific information. The department of homeland security, secretary said that there are plans to prosecute any immigrants who make false claims, or people who help them to make false claims, so there really is this idea coming out of the Trump administration that this caravan is made up of people who intend to cross the border illegally. I followed up with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, as to what their basis is for this assessment, because all of the people who halves spoken with in the caravan say that they intend to apply for asylum as that is their right but I'm still waiting to hear back from them on that. I have been speaking with reporter Jean Guerrero, thank you. Thank you.