Biden Administration To Start Processing Asylum-Seekers Sent Back To Tijuana

Speaker 1: 00:00 Asylum seekers stuck in limbo at the San Ysidro border. Have new hope today. The us will begin processing asylum claims from people kept in Tijuana under the Trump administration's remain in Mexico program. The Biden administration has reversed that program, which forced people requesting asylum in the U S to wait in Mexican border cities for their cases to be heard ending the remain in Mexico program as part of the president's effort to change border policy, which includes putting a hall to border wall construction and the introduction of new immigration legislation, which includes a path to citizenship for 11 million people living in the U S illegally. Joining me is KPBS reporter max Rivlin Nadler, who was in San Ysidro this morning and welcome max, good to be here. Tell us what starts happening for asylum seekers at the border today. Speaker 2: 00:54 So today asylum seekers who were sent back to Mexico under the remain in Mexico program are allowed to go on a website, enter their information and be given a time that they could come to a port of entry to continue their asylum case from the inside of the U S today, specifically 25 asylum seekers who are at high risk, either medical or living conditions, danger were identified and they crossed early this morning into San Diego. They, I just got word that they're at a local hotel in San Diego. So these are the first asylum seekers who were put into remain in Mexico, who are now allowed to continue their case from the U S under the Biden administration. Speaker 1: 01:34 Can you remind us of the conditions asylum seekers had to contend with while waiting in Mexico? Speaker 2: 01:40 It really difficult conditions. Um, often they lacked, uh, identification, the ability to work last night, I spoke with Herson or Duardo Keno. He's 36. He left Honduras with his wife and their two children. They came to the border at the Rio Grande in Texas, where they were enrolled in, remain in Mexico. Uh, they were unsafe when they were there in Texas. They came to Tijuana where they've been waiting and Tijuana for the past few months, but here he told me exactly how difficult his life has been, uh, for his family in Tijuana Speaker 3: 02:14 [inaudible] are not [inaudible]. Speaker 2: 02:26 So, because they didn't have documents, it's very difficult for them to find work. And they also had continued harassment from the Mexican police, the municipal police in Tijuana. Speaker 1: 02:35 So you say 25 of the people who have been waiting in Mexico are already in San Diego, and they're going to be staying at a hotel is that's. What's going to happen to all of the asylum seekers who are now allowed to wait in the U S Speaker 2: 02:49 That's not going to happen to all of the asylum seekers right here in San Diego. We kind of have a robust network. The San Diego rapid response network, which for the past few years has created a system where, uh, asylum seekers are welcomed into San Diego. They're given a checkout, they're given a hotel room and they're provided with travel and other places, less sparsely resource places along the border. People are going to be fitted with alternatives to detention, including ankle monitor bracelets, given numbers that they have to check in on places that they have to be at a certain time, uh, because of those ankle bracelets. So there'll be monitored electronically. And again, not everyone will be released into the interior. Some people will be detained. Speaker 1: 03:29 The process of getting out of the remain in Mexico program requires online registration. How are asylum seekers supposed to accomplish that? Speaker 2: 03:37 Yeah. I spoke with some asylum seekers today who had no idea about the online registration, and that's going to be a huge hurdle. A lot of people have cell phones, but they don't have data. They need wifi. I spoke with a shelter operator yesterday, Mexicali. He said he secured four laptops that he's just going to set up in his shelter where people come, and this is all they do with it is that they go and they sign up for this program. But this program really only applies to a small amount of asylum seekers currently waiting in the Southern border and in Tijuana. Yeah. Speaker 1: 04:09 What about people who've already had their asylum claims denied? Does the new policy give them any hope of a second chance? Speaker 2: 04:17 Yeah, so that's already really interesting right now. It doesn't, if they're appealing their case, there's an opportunity for them to continue their case in the interior of the U S but a lot of people who are denied asylum have left the border area. And more importantly, there are thousands of people who are never even put into the remain in Mexico program who were just denied entry into the U S have never even begun an asylum claim. Almost everybody I spoke with and met this morning at the Santa seizure, port of entry had never even been enrolled in this program. Many of them are Haitians. Many of them are Cameroonians. They were not eligible for the most part for the program. So they are stuck in Tijuana right now. And even if this program was expanded to other people, who've had their claims denied and remain in Mexico. They wouldn't even be considered. Speaker 1: 05:02 Now yesterday, the president and democratic lawmakers unveiled immigration legislation, that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented people. Is this what was expected from the Biden administration? Speaker 2: 05:15 Absolutely. From day one of his campaign, Biden had promised a path to citizenship for quote, unquote dreamers, people who came here at a young age. Um, this was actually a lot more expansive legislation than people had considered. It would radically alter how we deal with immigration in the United States. That being said, it's going to change quite quite a bit before, uh, it even faces the possibility of passing. Speaker 1: 05:42 I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, max Revlin Nadler and max. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 4: 05:58 [inaudible].