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"What I want is the United States of America," Cesar, a 23-year-old Honduran asylum seeker, told Yahoo News by telephone from a shelter center. located in Tijuana at the beginning of the week. Cesar, who has asked to be identified by his first name for security reasons, is one of the 80 gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans migrants who arrived in Tijuana this weekend after leaving the big caravan for a long time. rest period in Mexico City. last week.
<p class = "canvas-atom web-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Although located less than 20 miles from San Diego, Tijuana scarcely marks the end, but rather the beginning of a new phase of this northward journey for Cesar and those hoping to seek asylum in the United States – a process on the part of the United States. Trump administration recently acted to restrict before the long awaited arrival of the caravan. US border authorities only deal with 100 requests for asylum per day At San Diego's main entrance port, caravan migrants wishing to seek asylum in the United States should wait for weeks, if not months, in Mexico. "Data-reactid =" 24 "> Even though it's within 30 km of San Diego, Tijuana barely marks the end, but rather the beginning of a new phase of this journey to the north for Cesar and others who hope to seek asylum in the United States – a process that the Trump administration has recently taken steps to limit the anticipated arrival of the caravan. than 100 requests for asylum per day At the main port of entry in San Diego, caravan migrants seeking asylum in the United States should wait for weeks or even months in Mexico.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Long before Trump signed a presidential proclamation prohibit access to asylum for anyone crossing the border between entry points – a legal and common practice, especially for Central Americans seeking refuge in the United States – US Customs and Border Protection had already sought help from Mexican government officials and non-governmental organizations in Tijuana to help them set daily limits on the number of asylum seekers who could enter the country. Port of entry of San Ysidro. San Ysidro is the busiest land border in the Western Hemisphere; Every day, 70,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians enter the United States. "Data-reactid =" 25 "> Long before Trump signed a presidential proclamation prohibit access to asylum for anyone crossing the border between entry points – a legal and common practice, especially for Central Americans seeking refuge in the United States – US Customs and Border Protection had already sought help from Mexican government officials and non-governmental organizations in Tijuana to help them set daily limits on the number of asylum seekers who could enter the country. Port of entry of San Ysidro. San Ysidro is the busiest land border in the Western Hemisphere; Every day, 70,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians enter the United States.
"CBP is coordinating with the Mexican government to inform them of the number of places available for entry and NGOs to bring this number of asylum seekers to the point of entry," a CBP spokesperson told Yahoo News. . CBP insists that daily limits are simply an organized way to manage capacity constraints in San Ysidro. However, immigration lawyers and human rights advocates say that the system, which forces migrants to wait in Mexico – sometimes for several weeks – before they can cross, is at one and the same time illegal under the law of international asylum and abusive practice.
"Under US law and international law, CBP has a legal obligation to inspect and treat refugee claimants in our ports," said Shaw Drake, Texas ACLU Policy Advisor, Border Rights Center. "Whenever someone appears, they should be immediately treated."
<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Migrants must first get their name on a list, which would be handwritten on notebook sheets in a binder controlled by another asylum seeker, who then provides them with a number that they have to wait before being called. "data-reactid =" 28 "> Migrants must first be registered on a list, which would be handwritten on notebook sheets in a filing cabinet controlled by another asylum seeker, who then provides them with a number that they have to wait to be called.
Marvin Ochoa, in central Honduras, is waiting for a meal online behind his wife, Diana Marylin Ochoa, after arriving with a caravan of Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, on November 15, 2018. (Photo: Gregory Bull / AP)
Cesar and his LGBTQ cohorts had to wait five days in Tijuana before being on the list. They finally received their precious numbers on scrapbook paper torn on Thursday morning, as other members of the caravan began to descend on Tijuana. by the hundreds.
Caesar knew that he should "endure a lot of hunger, sun, rain" and walk on the way to the United States. He however told Yahoo News that he had finally decided to join the caravan was largely overtaken by the discrimination, abuse and daily threats of violence he faced as a gay man in Honduras. Once he was identified as gay, Caesar said that it was impossible to find work, adding that he would have even been denied entry into certain places, such as the supermarket, because of his sexuality. Above all, Cesar said that he no longer felt safe in his home country, he was consuming himself every night thinking that "in the morning I could be murdered".
While many in the caravan were traveling with parents or children, Cesar and many of the other LGBTQ migrants he encountered along the way were engaged alone. Most of them had fled discrimination and violence in their home country to cope, from the inhabitants of the towns they were crossing and even from other members of the caravan. Transgender women in particular were victims of harassment – ranging from calls to threats to men in the caravan – and struggled to follow the rest of the caravan while hitchhiking on the road to Mexico City, where many motorists refused to drive them.
"Among the whole caravan … this group has faced [the] additional challenge of being continually threatened in Mexico because of their LGBTQ status, [including] in line with threats of violence against them in particular, "said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of the Center for Assistance to Refugees and Non-Profit Immigrants for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES .
Earlier this month, RAICES supporters traveled to Mexico City, where the caravan had been seen offering shelter and a chance to rest in a large stadium. There they met Cesar and other LGBTQ migrants traveling with a caravan. After learning about the specific threats and discrimination they had encountered during the trip, they were asked to find a means of transportation to help this group travel to Tijuana before the rest of the caravan.
"Knowing that the capacity of any shelter or group at the border was going to be reduced, we decided to follow this group and protect it until it surrendered and asked for asylum at the border, "said Ryan.
Central American migrants in a caravan heading to the United States arrive in Tijuana, Mexico, on November 15, 2018. (Photo: Guillermo Arias / AFP / Getty Images)
<p class = "web-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Administration officials insist on the fact that the new asylum restrictions will benefit people "legitimate asylum claims" by eliminating fraudulent claims. narrowed by the Trump administration, which aimed to exclude refugees seeking escape from domestic violence or criminal gangs. Immigrant rights advocates claim that abuses of the system have been minor and wonder whether CBP will continue to use a "counting" system for asylum seekers at entry points such as San Ysidro. is supposed to discourage even those with legitimate claims, such as religious or political discrimination. . "Data-reactid =" 60 "> Administration officials insist that the new asylum restrictions will benefit" legitimate asylum applications "by eliminating those who claim fraudulent claims. The grounds for this asylum application were reduced by the Trump administration, which passed to the immigration advocates argue that the abuses of the system were minor, and wonder if CBP will continue to use a "counting" system for asylum seekers in ports of entry like San Ysidro is supposed to discourage even those with legitimate claims, such as religious or political discrimination.
"It does not seem to be a question of capacity, but of deliberate underutilization and underutilization of the total capacity to create more crisis on the other side of the border, used to create a false and anti-narrative -immigrant, "Ryan told RAICES.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "At a press conference regarding the proclamation of last week, officials indicated that they had no plans expand spatial or human capabilities to deal with the inevitable influx of asylum seekers at entry points, even as they now explicitly directed people – including members of the caravan – who wanted to apply for asylum at these designated places. ". reactid =" 62 "> At a press briefing on the proclamation last week, officials indicated that they had no plans expand spatial or human capabilities to address the inevitable influx of asylum seekers at entry points, even as they now explicitly directed people – including caravan members – who wished to apply for asylum at these designated places.
However, last week, CBP announced the closure of several dedicated vehicle lanes at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry, which straddle the Tijuana-San Diego border, to "prepare for potential risk in terms of safety "that the arrival of the caravan could cause. .
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" These preparations include training exercises, the deployment of CBP's additional staff and partnership with the US Army to strengthen our ports of entry and the border area between these legal crossing points in the United States, "said Pete Flores, director of field operations in San Diego. says in the press release, who also noted that Ministry of Defense staff had been hired to install accordion cables, temporary traffic barriers and additional fences. to strengthen our ports of entry and the border area between these legal crossing points in the United States, "Pete Flores, director of field operations in San Diego, says in the press release, which also notes that Ministry of Defense personnel are hired to install accordion cables, temporary traffic barriers and additional fencing.
"They could deal with this problem much more effectively, [but the] In the end, they do not want to, "said Drake of the ACLU. "They want the restrictions imposed in the ports, want people to be forced to cross ports where they have now tried to deprive them of access to asylum status and [this] feeds the story that the border must secure. "
Members of a caravan of Central American migrants and their supporters are sitting at the US-Mexico border at Border Field State Park before applying for asylum in San Diego. April. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters)
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "All those who parade in the caravan do not seek A man who arrived in Tijuana on Wednesday told the police Associated press he intended to cross the border fence with several others who were still on their way. "data-reactid =" 77 "> Not all those who parade in the caravan who are planning to seek asylum.A man who arrived in Tijuana Wednesday declared to the Associated press he intended to climb to the fence with several others who were still on the way.
But if the migrants who have already arrived and the thousands of rear parties waiting for them are thwarted by a fence of barbed wire or blocked by ad-hoc bureaucracy in the form of a handwritten list, the result can be the same: a potentially dangerous accumulation of families and single men and women on the Mexican side of the border.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Wednesday nightviolent clashes erupted between local residents and migrants as hundreds of people from the first wave of caravans tried to set up a makeshift camp on the beach. This prompted local authorities to open a temporary accommodation center at the Benito Juarez Sports Complex, which can accommodate 3,000 people. "Data-reactid =" 79 ">Wednesday nightviolent clashes erupted between local residents and migrants as hundreds of people from the first wave of caravans tried to set up a makeshift camp on the beach. This prompted local authorities to open a temporary shelter at the Benito Juarez Sports Complex, which can accommodate 3,000 people.
Less than a week after arriving in Tijuana, Cesar and the others have already been forced to relocate once for security reasons. "In the past, shelters that housed LGBTQ people in Mexico were the target of an incendiary bomb," Ryan said.
Caesar said he heard about new restrictions on the border that he says are motivated by a false impression of the caravan's intentions.
"We want to do things right. we do not want to enter by the thousands as perverse immigrants, "he said.
While waiting for his number to be called, Caesar fantasizes about life on the other side of the border. The United States is a free country, he says, where he could live and work without fear of being attacked for who he is. There, he hopes to continue his passion for cooking and go to school to become a chef. One day, he says, he could even get married.
One thing he is certain to know is that he went too far to go back, predicting that gangs and villains "will be the first" to look for him, if he is forced to go home. him.
<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" I wish [cooperate] with the US authorities, "he said," because I can not live in Honduras anymore. "
____ "data-reactid =" 85 ">" I want [cooperate] with the US authorities, "he said," because I can not live in Honduras anymore. "
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