Trump Moves To End Asylum Protections For Central Americans

Speaker 1: 00:00 The situation for asylum seekers at the u s Mexico border may change. Fundamentally as soon as tomorrow. The Trump administration is putting a new rule into effect for bidding most asylum seekers to make their claim in the u s if they've already passed through a designated safe contrary, the move is aimed at the increasing number of asylum seekers from Central America waiting for entry at the US Mexico border. The new rule is set to go into effect tomorrow and will likely face a swift legal challenge. There are presently about 9,000 people waiting in Tijuana to claim asylum in the u s and joining me is KPBS reporter Max Rivlin, Nadler and Max. Welcome. Hi. So your reporting from, from the border into wanna, what can you tell us about the reaction to this new Trump administration rule? Speaker 2: 00:49 So the react, and I spoke with a couple of asylum seekers here this morning. Uh, it's been one of, you know, basically miscommunication. No one has told them what's going on. I, you know, mentioned it to a bunch of people that this was the, uh, interim final rule that was being proposed by the Trump administration to go into effect tomorrow. And like most of the u s asylum system, this was totally, you know, indecipherable to them because they have so many other things to be caring about and basically they're caring about day to day survival into Quanta. So just another regulatory, um, kind of rule coming down is not gonna make that much of an impact. And nobody had really kind of explained to everybody waiting this morning that this could fundamentally change their status. Speaker 1: 01:33 There've been a lines of people waiting to hear their names called for asylum interviews. They've been waiting into one a four months. Is that process still going on today? Speaker 2: 01:42 So the book is still being kept. The numbers should be still being called. But today, like many days over the past month, no numbers were called and nobody was led in at the u s port of entry. This is according to asylum seekers I spoke with just a few minutes ago. So what you're seeing is basically, even before this new law, this new rule came down or was announced, was a stopping of the u s asylum system at the port of entry. Speaker 1: 02:09 So indeed, this new rule for bidding access to the U S is supposed to apply to people who have been waiting and have had their names in this so-called metering book. Speaker 2: 02:20 Yeah, absolutely. I spoke with a gentleman a few minutes ago. His name is Tony. He's from Cameroon and he had been waiting for two months. His name has been in the book. Uh, but under the new rule, if it were to stand and not be immediately struck down by the courts, which many people think it will be, um, you would not be allowed to claim asylum in the u s so he hears him talking about the difficulties that he faces and also the challenges of, of going and getting status in a third country, which is what the new law is asking for. Speaker 3: 02:50 They don't view predicted here from the police when ever the idea bus gets expired. The, can we offer anything? When did I have such a security? No. But I did. And the other thing is the language barrier. Yes, Spanish, we speak English, we speak French and other digit so we can function here. Speaker 1: 03:12 So apparently this, um, this asylum seeker from Cameroon does not necessarily feel safe in um, Mexico. Central American migrants have a core of course traveled through Mexico to get to the u s border. Does Mexico qualify as the legally defined safe country? The Trump administration is talking about? Speaker 2: 03:34 Well, Mexico has never signed a safe third country agreement with the United States. Whether, um, asylum seekers feel safe here is going to be up to the asylum system itself. And these are immigration judges. Um, this is already playing out during a process. We know as the migrant protection protocols where migrants are being sent back to Mexico to wait out their asylum claims as they're processed in the u s this was the controversial program that was instituted a few months ago before this new rule came down. A lot of those people being sent back to Mexico have expressed deep fear of returning to the country. They say Central Americans are discriminated against. They don't really have status, they have trouble finding work. Uh, they were looked down upon by Mexicans and are huge targets for crimes, robbery, human trafficking, um, things, things of that nature. Speaker 1: 04:26 What's been the reaction from migrant advocates to this new asylum policy? Speaker 2: 04:31 Um, a lot of them are, we're in surprised this has been in the office for a few months. It's been reported on by a couple of different outlets when it was kind of first surfaced a few months ago. Um, but, you know, basic outrage, um, and a belief that this is frankly incompatible with our current law regarding asylum. And we'll be struck down by the courts. Of course, as we know, something being struck down by a court doesn't mean that a little ultimately be ruled illegal. Right. The Muslim ban eventually prevailed in the supreme court. Um, the migrant protection protocols, which a lot of people said on its face was illegal, was originally struck down by a federal judge. But then, um, that was upheld briefly for, for hearings, which have now stretched on for a month by the, not by the ninth circuit. So it's, you know, listen, yeah, this might be struck down, but it might be something that we ended up living with for quite some time. Speaker 1: 05:24 Is there a legal challenge to this in the works that you know of? Speaker 2: 05:27 Absolutely. I believe the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as several other NGOs have been working on this since it was first announced. It should be coming either once it goes into effect or within the next couple of hours. Here's the ACLU lawyer league alert, talking earlier to the California report about the prospect of a challenge. Speaker 4: 05:48 This is another attempt to ban asylum. The previous attempt to borrow silent for anyone who entered between ports of entry was struck down under the immigration nationality act that Congress passed. And this one we believe will also be struck down under the Immigration and Nationality Act. It's completely incompatible with Congress's decision to provide protection for those seeking asylum, regardless of which country they transcended through. Speaker 1: 06:22 Okay. Then we will continue to follow this ongoing and developing story. I've been speaking with KPBS reporter Max Rivlin Nadler at the border in Tijuana. Max. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 5: 06:37 Uh.