Trump shuts down US-Mexico border for asylum seekers, leaving migrants in limbo

 

 

Washington — The US-Mexico border is effectively closed off to migrants seeking asylum in the United States within hours of President Donald Trump taking office, an extraordinary departure from previous protocols that has left many concerned migrants in limbo.

 

It’s a rare combination of two policies — one from former President Joe Biden and other from Trump — that have nearly sealed off the US southern border to asylum seekers. With refugee admissions also set to be suspended, there are few, if any, avenues available to people seeking refuge in the United States.

 

Biden’s executive action last summer restricting asylum for people crossing the border illegally was condemned by Democrats and immigrant advocates. Biden administration officials argued that migrants still had an option available to them through the border app known as CBP One to schedule an appointment at a legal port of entry.

That option was shut down minutes after Trump was sworn in, leaving thousands of migrants in limbo and resulting in a border that is largely sealed off to asylum seekers.

 

Migrants who had been waiting for their appointments along Mexico’s northern border expressed shock and disappointment.

 

Luis, a Venezuelan migrant who has lived in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez for the past nine months, told CNN’s Valeria León he was “trying to do things the right way,” before learning that his appointment scheduled for Monday through the CBP One app had been abruptly canceled.

 

Venezuelan Yenyile Díaz, who has also spent months living in Ciudad Juarez with her family, said they had all lost their appointments following the shutdown of CBP One.

 

“The Biden administration had managed to restrict asylum by opening up some other legal avenues and hope that would stand in the court. As of today, there’s almost no way of getting protection at the US border or anywhere along a route to the United States,” said Andrew Selee, president of the think tank Migration Policy Institute. “That’s a huge shift.”

 

Republicans have argued that the US asylum system has been taken advantage of in recent years, saying that migrants are claiming asylum even though they don’t meet the definition and may instead be coming to the US for economic reasons.

 

When people request asylum, they are meant to be seeking protection from violence or persecution that keep them from feeling safe in their home country or keep them from returning safely to their home country. The process to be granted asylum can take years, and some claims are ultimately denied.

 

In an executive order signed Monday, Trump effectively suspended US asylum law until what he’s called an “invasion at the southern border has ceased.” He also directed federal agencies to “repel, repatriate, or remove” migrants coming across the border.

 

“The decision to eliminate all avenues to seek asylum, even for families with children fleeing for their lives, is a stunning development, one that makes a mockery of our post WWII commitment never to summarily send people back to danger,” said Lee Gelernt, ACLU attorney who led many of the challenges to Trump’s border policies in the first administration, in a statement.

 

Covid-era restrictions along the border, known as Title 42, also barred asylum and allowed border authorities to turn migrants back. That policy was challenged in court.

 

Trump is inheriting a relatively quiet border, as Biden’s asylum restrictions sent migrant crossings plummeting.

In the early days of Trump’s first term, border crossings remained low as migrants waited to see and game out his actions. But eventually they increased.

 

While it’s difficult to predict migration patterns, Homeland Security officials warn that might happen again.

“They may wait for a while and see what’s going to happen. Whether they wait for a day or a few months, if they’re this far and committed, they’re eventually going to try anyway,” the Homeland Security official said, referring to migrants.

 

Johana Conde, from Cuba, told CNNE from the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras that she now plans to return home but is unsure of what her future holds.

 

“They say they do want immigrants in the United States, but legal ones. Obviously, we did all this legally. … Right now we don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. ARTICLE

Trump says he chose not to pardon himself, defends clemency to Capitol rioters US President Donald Trump revealed on Thursday that he declined the option to pardon himself before leaving office in 2021 as he believed he had done nothing wrong.

 

In his first Oval Office interview since assuming the presidency again, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the suggestion of self-pardon was made as he was departing the White House after losing the 2020 election.

 

‘’I was given the option. They said, ‘Sir, would you like to pardon everybody, including yourself?’ I said, ‘I’m not going to pardon anybody. We didn’t do anything wrong,’’’ Trump said during the hour-long interview, during which he often touched on past grievances.

 

Trump also took potshots at his predecessor, Joe Biden, for not issuing himself a pardon before leaving office, hinting that it was a mistake the Democrat may come to regret.

 

‘’This guy went around giving everybody pardons,’’ the President said, referring to Biden granting clemency to criminal offenders, Trump critics and family members in his final days as commander-in-chief.

 

‘’And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him,’’ Trump said.

 

The conversation then turned to Trump issuing “full, complete and unconditional” pardons for around 1,500 people involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. The group included individuals convicted of violent acts. The move saw Trump fulfilling a campaign promise within the first few hours of his second term.

 

Hannity pressed the President on his decision to pardon convicts who had been violent toward police officers during the insurrection. He downplayed the incidents, describing them as “very minor.”

 

‘’They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged, and you should be allowed to protest the vote,’’ Trump claimed, continuing to falsely assert that the 2020 election was stolen, despite repeated court rulings, official findings, and the conclusions of his own attorney general to the contrary.

 

He added, ‘’Some of those people with the police – true – but they were very minor incidents, OK. You know, they get built up by that couple of fake guys that are on CNN all the time.’’

 

When Hannity objected, noting that protesters should not invade the Capitol, Trump defended his decision, asserting that most of those pardoned were “innocent” and going through a tough time in prison. He added that going over every single case would be a long and laborious process.

 

‘’These people have served, horribly, a long time,’’ he said. “It would be very, very cumbersome to go and look – you know how many people we’re talking about? 1,500 people.”

 

Trump’s mass pardons sparked immediate controversy, with judges who sentenced the rioters stating that the move won’t change the truth about the mob’s attack on a bastion of American democracy. On the other hand, Trump’s supporters viewed the clemency as justified for what they believe was an overreach in prosecutions.