 |
|
The U.S. had already substantially reduced the number of asylum seekers arriving at its border last year through a series of measures aimed at making it a less attractive option. They mostly came from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The principal measure was the so-called “Remain in Mexico” program that sent non-Mexican asylum seekers back to Mexico to await their asylum cases. The program has been criticized for stranding people already at risk in dangerous border cities with few resources to support themselves for an unknown period of time. More than 55,000 asylum seekers have been sent back to wait in Mexico.
Mexicans were not included in that program because asylum seekers can’t be returned to the country they are fleeing while their cases are pending. If they lose in court they can be sent back. U.S. immigration judges rendered decisions on 948 Mexican asylum cases in October, the latest data available from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Of those 831, or 88%, were denials.
|
|
|
|
