Children trying to enter the US legally to seek asylum are being turned away

[Elderberry]

Vox By Dara Lind 11/20/2018

Children and teens traveling without their parents are being blocked by Mexican officials from crossing into the US to seek asylum at the biggest port of entry along the US-Mexico border, according to advocates and lawyers.

Representatives of the Tijuana/San Diego immigration services nonprofit Al Otro Lado have witnessed Mexican officials preventing unaccompanied children and teens from getting into the line to seek asylum in the US at the San Ysidro Port of Entry since November 1.

Children represented by Al Otro Lado have been returned to Mexico without explanation when they seek to enter the port, and have been threatened by Mexican officials that if they try to seek asylum, they’ll be sent to the Mexican government’s “child-custody agency,” according to a sworn court declaration filed over the weekend by Al Otro Lado lawyer Erika Pinheiro.

Under President Donald Trump’s asylum ban, which was in effect from November 10 until Monday, presenting at a port of entry was the only way for anyone coming from Mexico — including children — to actually be eligible for asylum in the US. But these new allegations mean that the asylum ban effectively prevented unaccompanied children from getting asylum in the US at all.

The asylum ban was put on hold by Judge Jon Tigar of the Northern District of California Monday night, but the Trump administration intends to keep fighting in hopes of getting the newly ensconced conservative majority on the Supreme Court to uphold the ban.

Southern Poverty Law Center lawyer Mary Bauer confirmed to Vox that the practice is ongoing. “I’ve talked to a dozen kids and they’ve all been there any number of weeks,” she said, “and they’ve all been told that if they try to get on the list [to get into the US for an asylum claim], they’ll be taken into custody.”

A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection referred Vox to the INM, the Mexican immigration agency, whose officials are accused of blocking children at the port. The INM’s Tijuana office did not reply to a request for comment.

More: https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18104676/asylum-border-trump-children

[Fishrrman]

Turn them away.
Turn them ALL away!

[Chosen Daughter]

More so than any.  Children without parents to care for them should not be let in.  Send them back to their countries where they can enter into their own social services by adoption or whatever means.  But really these children probably have relatives already here.  Their parents (negligent) send their children thousands of miles in a caravan with criminal elements.  Knowing that they can be raped or taken for human trafficking.  Or whatever scary and horrible thing that can happen to a child trying to reach America illegally.

[Dexter]

Those poor children. Why aren’t they being taken care of by their government?

[Cyber Liberty]

Those poor children. Why aren’t they being taken care of by their government?