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US-Bound Migrants, Asylum-Seekers Wait Out Policy Changes

Victoria Macchi

   LAREDO, TEXAS/NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO --Editor's note: VOA is withholding
   some identifying information and images when requested by the migrant
   or asylum-seeker, to limit risks to their safety, as criminals in
   northern Mexico are targeting migrants for kidnapping, assault and
   ransom. Only first names are included in this report from the border,
   which contains personal accounts as told by migrants that have not been
   verified by VOA but are consistent with reports from a wide range of
   news outlets and sources.

   The U.S. Border Patrol reports it has intercepted more than 800,000
   migrants and asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border so far in the
   2019 fiscal year.

   In recent months, the Trump administration has returned tens of
   thousands of mostly Central American migrants to Mexico to await U.S.
   immigration hearings under the [1]Migrant Protection Protocols, also
   known as the "Remain in Mexico" program.

   This past Wednesday, the [2]U.S. Supreme Court allowed the
   administration to deny asylum to all recent non-Mexican claimants who
   hadn't already been denied asylum in a third country before reaching
   the U.S. border.Even before the Supreme Court decision, U.S. officials
   reported nine of 10 asylum claims were being rejected.

   Despite such statistics, and amid rapidly shifting U.S. policies,
   migrants and asylum-seekers from the Americas, Africa and beyond await
   a determination of their fates while biding their time on both sides of
   America's southern border.

   VOA reporters [3]Victoria Macchi and [4]Ramon Taylor spoke with a broad
   sampling of migrants and asylum-seekers in early August. Many departed
   their home countries months before U.S. policy changes went into
   effect, under assumptions that no long apply. All are awaiting
   immigration court hearings. These are their stories.

   Melissa, 25: 'It's only been an American nightmare'
   Country of Origin: Venezuela
   Status: Returned to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, under MPP

   Melissa fled Venezuela in late July seeking asylum in the United
   States. As a critic of Venezuela's disputed President Nicolás Maduro,
   she feared retribution from the government. Along her route, she says
   she was kidnapped and extorted by smugglers in Reynosa, Mexico, who
   forced her to cross into the U.S. between ports of entry, where she was
   detained. Melissa was returned to the International Bridge spanning the
   Rio Grande river to Nuevo Laredo, Puente 1, lacking laces in her shoes,
   a change of clothes, food or shelter. Her pleas to remain in the U.S.
   to await her Oct. 22 court hearing were denied. "I thought this would
   be, as they say, the American dream. But for me, it's only been an
   American nightmare."

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/usa/how-us-governments-remain-mexico-plan-unfurled-confusion
   2. https://www.voanews.com/usa/major-impact-expected-supreme-court-asylum-decision
   3. https://twitter.com/VMMacchi
   4. https://twitter.com/ramonctaylor

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