Delmer welcomed news that a congressional delegation had crossed into Mexico last Friday to tour the border camp where he lives while he waits for his U.S. immigration court date. The asylum-seeker, originally from Honduras, has been there for months now. “It’s good that they’re here to see firsthand how we’re living day-to-day,” he told Texas Public Radio.
What Delmer hopes for is action. Roughly 60,000 asylum-seekers have been sent to Mexico to wait out their cases as part of the Trump administration’s illegal Migrant Protection Protocols policy, or Remain in Mexico. An estimated 2,000 of those asylum-seekers and their families are forced to live in a camp in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, in conditions condemned by legislators during a press conference immediately following the visit.
“President Trump and this administration are forcing people to live in inhumane conditions because of his Remain in Mexico policy,” Texas Public Radio reports Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Joaquin Castro of Texas said. “These are conditions that people seeking asylum and refuge in the United States should not have to endure,” including lack of running water, flimsy shelter against the cold weather, and one lone full-time doctor to treat the sick.
Rep. Nanette Barragán of California raised U.S. officials’ initial refusal to allow a child with a heart defect and Down’s Syndrome to pass through even though she’s supposed to be exempt from Remain in Mexico. ”It took members of Congress, those of us who stayed behind, to stand there and say, this person needs to be seen. This child needs to be seen,” she said during the press conference. The child, a six-year-old Central American girl, was allowed through only after persistence from legislators and advocates.
“We’ve been waiting 40, 50 minutes for a supervisor,” advocate Tomas Cartwright said according to Valley Morning Star. “He’s hiding in that room down there because he doesn’t even want to come down here and talk to the head of the Hispanic Caucus, much less give a damn about two mothers here with three babies who have every legal right to be in this country.” Texas Public Radio reports that Castro pushed for more information on who was in charge. “Moments later the Port Director Ortiz arrived and spoke with Castro for a few minutes, then the families are allowed to cross into the U.S. side of the bridge.”
“We had a good resolution today,” Rep. Barragán continued during the press conference, “but it shouldn’t take five members of Congress to stay behind, to advocate.”
Legislators also visited the secretive immigration “court tents” on the U.S. side of the border where asylum-seekers subject to Remain in Mexico have their cases heard. While pressure from legislators like Castro has forced the Trump administration into opening the proceedings to the public (though there are some reports that U.S. officials continue to shut some out), these immigration tent courts continue to be a due-process nightmare.
“In one of the first such hearings to be open to the public, four migrants showed up for immigration court in a giant tent near the border this week to face a judge on a video screen and a government lawyer they couldn’t see,” The Wall Street Journal said earlier this month, further reporting that “A public listing of the day’s cases wasn’t posted, which is typical in traditional immigration courts.”
Part of administration’s plan is to bury both asylum-seekers and those seeking answers in red tape and bureaucracy. “Officials at the tent court referred questions to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts,” The Wall Street Journal continued. “A spokeswoman for the Justice Department agency didn’t respond to requests for comment.” In their reporting this past fall, Vice noted, “DHS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Justice Department agency that oversees the nation’s immigration courts, didn’t respond to VICE News' request for comment.”
Visiting legislators urged the public to not look away and keep asking questions. “We are here to try and hold the administration accountable, but we also need the American people to stand up and say we will not allow this to continue,” Texas Public Radio reports California Rep. Linda Sánchez said during the press conference. “When we saw the separation of families at the border, the public outcry forced the administration to change policy. All they’ve done is change it across the border and they’re hoping out of sight means out of mind for the American public.”
