Hollywood actresses Kerry Washington and America Ferrera recently visited Tijuana to tour the shelters that serve as temporary homes to hundreds of Central American migrants that remain in legal limbo.
Ferrera, whose parents are Honduran immigrants, led the excursion from the Los Angeles area to just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, coming into contact with the migrants who are waiting to make asylum claims or have their case decided by a U.S. immigration judge.
The Families Belong Together organization organized the trip and had the women speak with immigration lawyers and shelter officials about the continued stream of migrants arriving just south of San Diego, Calif.
“Yesterday in Tijuana, we witnessed in person the humanitarian crisis at the border. Mothers and their children seeking safety and their international human right to asylum at our border, but instead being made more vulnerable by the senseless & illegal policies of this administration,” Ferrera wrote in an Instagram post Monday.
[Read more: DHS secretary defends ‘metering’ asylum seekers at border: ‘We’re not turning anybody around’]
One of the shelters the women visited was Espacio Migrante. Washington and Ferrera said they learned more about the “Remain in Mexico” policy the Trump administration implemented earlier this year. The policy requires Central American migrants who opted to pursue asylum in the U.S. instead of Mexico to remain in the middle country while they await a decision to their claim.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection also began last year “metering” asylum seekers at ports of entry along the southern border, which means officers are allowing a limited number of migrants to apply for asylum daily.
“Shelters like @espaciomigrante are providing beds, food, medical & psychological care for families who have made harrowing journeys to seek asylum and are being turned back at our border,” Ferrera wrote on Instagram. “It was an eye opening & heart breaking experience. We were able to bear witness to how the current administration is treating refugee families. We MUST demand better.”
Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez also visited the shelters with the group. Each shelter can hold a few dozen people.
