The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday the Central American migrants who traveled as part of caravans to Tijuana, Mexico, with the hope of entering the U.S. are beginning to realize they were “sold a bad bill of goods” by the organizations that led them on the journey.
The top U.S. Border Patrol official in Southern California said some of the 6,000 migrants staying in shelters in Tijuana as they decide whether to pursue entry into San Diego, Calif., have started to return home. That follows unsuccessful attempts by up to 1,000 migrants who attempted to storm the border near the San Ysidro port of entry Sunday.
“We’ve heard rumors through our nongovernmental agency contacts that many of the migrants are starting to realize that this isn’t what they expected,” Border Patrol San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott said, when asked what he expected next from the group. “I believe that the city of Tijuana reported about 20 asked to go home yesterday. So we’re hoping that this calms down and people realize that that they’ve basically been sold a bad bill of goods.”
Scott said nongovernmental organizations “who may or may not have good intentions” may have intentionally misled people to take the 3,000-mile trip from Northern Triangle countries to Tijuana.
The unspecified organizations “are giving these people some horrible advice and some bad advice, so we’re trying to make sure that they have proper information to make informed decisions.”
Scott said the department and Border Patrol’s parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, are also in “constant dialogue” with their Mexican counterparts on the situation.
However, he did not share if Mexico is increasingly cooperating with the U.S. following a report last week that the two countries had reached an informal deal that Central American asylum seekers would remain south of the border while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processed their applications.
Ninety percent of asylum applications from Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Honduran nationals are denied, DHS said in a statement late Monday.
“Historically, less than 10% of those who claim asylum from #Guatemala, #Honduras, and #ElSalvador are found eligible by a federal judge. 90% are not eligible. Most of these migrants are seeking jobs or to join family who are already in the U.S. They have all refused multiple opportunities to seek protection in Mexico or with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Seeking employment or family reunification are not grounds for asylum under our laws, or any international obligation. There are, however, legal ways to seek a job or to be reunited in the U.S.,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement.
Scott said U.S. officials are trying to get information about that process and eligibility for asylum to those people, as well as what they can expect to happen if they attempt to illegally enter the country in the same manner as on Sunday.
“If they have a true asylum claim, by all means, they should report to the port of entry, get in line, or accept asylum in Mexico, that is still a standing offer from Mexico. But if they are an economic migrant trying to come into the United States, I think they should realize they are not going to make it across,” he said.
