After traveling thousands of miles by foot and bus, a small group of Central American families who had reached the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego, California, were essentially told by border agents, sorry, we’re full. “When 50 members of the caravan presented themselves at the port of entry on Sunday afternoon,” Mother Jones reported, “they were turned back by Customs and Border Protection, which claimed that the port of entry was at capacity and could not process any new cases.”
But it’s hard to imagine that the government wasn’t prepared for this. “CBP officials in recent days have said that the agency has the capacity to detain as many as 300 people at the San Ysidro Port of Entry,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, and a week ago, “Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen had announced that the agency was ‘sending additional USCIS asylum officers, ICE attorneys, DOJ Immigration Judges, and DOJ prosecutors to the Southern border,’ and that was ‘taking a number of steps to ensure that all cases and claims are adjudicated promptly.’”
But Donald Trump, who has been fearmongering about the so-called “caravan” for weeks, also tweeted that he had “instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country.” This would be breaking the law. “When a person arrives at a designated U.S. port of entry and seeks from border authorities protection from persecution in his or her home country,” notes DHS Watch, a project of America’s Voice, “U.S. law requires that the individual be interviewed by USCIS to determine whether he/she has a credible fear.”
“It’s absolutely legal to appear at a US port of entry and ask for asylum,” tweeted immigration attorney David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “In fact, international law requires that the US consider asylum claims.” So, the families at the border waited, camping out overnight on the Mexican side of the border. They’d already gone too far and have too much at stake to turn back. But by Monday evening, “hopes rose” as officials finally allowed eight members to request asylum. By Tuesday, six more were permitted.
For weeks now, Trump has attempted to cast these asylum seekers as a dangerous invasion trying to take advantage of “weak and ineffective U.S. immigration laws.” In reality, asylum laws are extraordinarily complex, and being able to petition for asylum, notes DHS Watch, “is no guarantee of protection, just an opportunity to state a claim and be properly considered for asylum.” Even then, “those who are able to continue the asylum process then face months, and in some cases years, of separation from children and spouses with no guarantee that, in the end, they will not [be] deported to horrific violence from which they may have fled.”
These families aren’t just fleeing to the U.S., they’re fleeing for their lives. "My uncle sexually abused me for 10 years,” Nelda, a 15-year-old Honduran girl, told Buzzfeed. “I still can't sleep because of all the trauma. When I finally told my mom two years ago she filed a report with the police. He threatened to kill me and my family if we didn't take it back. He has gang ties because he sells drugs for them. I left with my mom and 13-year-old sister. My plan is to get to the US, enroll in college, and make some opportunities for myself."
Kenya, a 34-year-old woman, told Buzzfeed she fled Honduras after her husband threatened to kill her for reporting him for past-due child support. When she tried to get police to retract it, they wouldn’t. So she fled. “I wanted to protect my own life and also my kids so I left and went to Tapachula. While I was in Tapachula and I was waiting for a humanitarian visa, I heard he had been arrested but then released on bail. Now he's really going to kill me. He told me before that he'd kill me and keep the kids. This is all because I went to the police. I'm scared because my husband knows how to travel through Mexico."
Roxsana, a 33-year-old transgender woman, wanted to stay home in Honduras—until she was raped by a gang. “Four months ago, I was walking home and a group of them started screaming at me, 'We don't want you in this neighborhood, you fucking faggot.' Four of them raped me and as a result I got HIV. Trans people in my neighborhood are killed and chopped into pieces, then dumped inside potato bags. Sometimes, they even chop off their penises. There's a lot of discrimination."
But you won’t hear any of this from the president of the United States, and when he does mention violence against brown people, it’s only in the context of further demonizing those brown people in the eyes of his white supporters. Trump would rather erase their stories, their faces and their names—anything to stomp out sympathy for them. But they are human beings who deserve dignity, respect and the chance to apply for a second chance at life. Not just a handful, but all of them. U.S. and international law dictate it.