Alejandro Mayorkassecretary of National security (DHS) of USAannounced last Wednesday that the immigration agents of the country of the stars and stripes are “trained” to identify political asylum seekers, despite reports that dozens of people who requested protection have been returned to Mexico without any of the cases being heard.
During a press conference in TucsonMayorkas stressed that the immigration authorities (including the Border Patrol), are very “well trained to identify individuals who express a fear” of being returned to their countries of origin.
The official stressed that they are enforcing the law, under the new restrictions on political asylum on the United States border with Mexico that came into effect on June 5 by President Joe Biden.
The new immigration rules establish that all undocumented migrants who cross USA They must express a fear of being returned to their places of origin, in order to request any type of protection in the American Union.
The executive order Joe Biden’s policies prevent the vast majority of migrants detained by authorities from obtaining asylum, although they take into account some exceptions for those who have been victims of human trafficking, have a severe health emergency, or those who face a threat that puts their lives or safety at risk.
According to the regulations, all persons who actively demonstrate fear of immigration authorities must be referred to a process known as a “credible fear interview,” where they are asked a series of questions to determine whether or not they are candidates to request some kind of protection in the United States.
It should be noted that numerous organizations that work with migrants in different parts of the border have reported having spoken with dozens of people who have been expelled to Mexico regardless of whether they have expressed their fear of deportation.
For this reason, one of the directors of the NGO based in the city of WalnutsPedro Velasco said that since Biden’s order came into force, he has witnessed the return of dozens of migrants who claim to have expressed fear.
“It is very desperate (…) we see people who say that they showed the agents that they had tortured them, but that they told them that there is no longer asylum for anyone,” the activist explained.
Prior to the implementation of the restrictions, people who managed to cross into the United States irregularly could apply for asylum and, if they passed an initial filter, were allowed to stay in the country while they waited for their cases to be resolved.
It is worth mentioning that the law requires that the person who requests political asylum must already be on US soil.
For all this, several groups in defense of civil rights filed a lawsuit on June 15 to block the rules, which they call “illegal.”
The document notes that the rules are “flatly inconsistent with the asylum statute enacted by Congress, which allows immigrants to file asylum claims ‘whether or not they enter’ through a port of entry.”
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