Campaign Action
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has illegally been turning away asylum seekers at U.S. ports of entry. This isn’t speculation: it’s fact. Nearly a year ago, former Department of Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly and other administration officials were sued over the practice after agents, according to the lawsuit, told asylum seekers that “Trump says we don’t have to let you in.” It’s still happening, leaving some waiting for days, even weeks—but not if Ruben Garcia can help it.
Perhaps five times already, Garcia, who runs Annunciation House, a shelter for migrants in Texas, has attempted to escort families across the international bridge from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, not just as a guide, but to push back on the myriad of excuses agents have used to turn families away, including claiming the facility is full. “I know that last week you all released 360 persons to us,” he told an agent in one such instance described by the Texas Tribune. “There have been weeks where you have released at least 1,000 people to us, so that’s how I know capacity isn’t an issue.”
According to the Tribune, the officer “stood firm and told Garcia that he’d do everything he could, but that the families wouldn’t be allowed to cross until there was room for them.” But vulnerable families have trekked too far, and have too much to lose to give up. So, with Garcia at their side, they waited. Perhaps it was the media presence, perhaps it was Garcia’s light skin, his fatherly presence, or the fact that he is known in the community, but whatever it was, it worked. “About an hour later, the families were let past the boundary and escorted into the CBP processing facility.”
Garcia’s efforts haven’t always been successful, but at least for these families, there’s some hope. "I've accompanied families where they have not let them in, where we've had to go back," Garcia said. “But yes, I have a suspicion that had we not been with them, that [they] would have been turned back."