×

US returns first group of asylum seekers

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — The so-called Remain in Mexico program for U.S. asylum seekers expanded to another Mexican border city Tuesday with the arrival of a first group of migrants to Nuevo Laredo.

The 10 migrants had crossed the border to seek U.S. asylum Monday and will now have to wait in Mexico as their applications are processed.

Lucia Ascencio of Venezuela had waited for three months in Nuevo Laredo with her husband and two young sons just for the chance to make her asylum petition in Laredo, Texas. She was stunned by her return to Mexico as they walked from the bridge carrying plastic bags containing a bottle of water, a bottle of juice and an orange.

“We hadn’t thought that they were going to send us back,” she said. Her family was given a date in September to return for the next step in their process.

A spokeswoman with Mexico’s immigration agency confirmed that the first group of 10 returned Tuesday under the program, which is formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately comment, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday that migrant apprehensions along the southwest border dropped 28% in June compared to May. That decrease was 11 percentage points more than the same period in 2018.

U.S. border apprehensions were still 140% higher through the first six months of the year than the same period a year earlier, the agency said.

“We are working with the government of Mexico to expand Migrant Protection Protocols to allow the U.S. to more effectively assist legitimate asylum-seekers and individuals fleeing persecution and deter migrants with false or meritless claims from making the journey,” the statement said.

Asylum applicants were previously released into the U.S. with notices to appear in court.

The program was already operating in the Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Mexicali and Ciudad Juarez. More than 18,000 mostly Central American migrants had been returned to those cities through the first week in July, according Mexican officials.

Nuevo Laredo is in Tamaulipas state, which the U.S. State Department warns Americans not to visit due to kidnappings and other crimes.

Migrant shelters in cities along Mexico’s northern border have been swamped for months. Like Ascencio, migrants who want to apply for U.S. asylum wait for months to get the opportunity. The Remain in Mexico cities are even more affected because the migrants are sent back to wait for a process that could last more than a year.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today