Every migrant who traveled to the U.S. border as part of the Central American caravan has a right under U.S. immigration laws to claim asylum before Customs and Border Protection officers, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed Wednesday, despite President Trump’s call to keep them away from the border.
“We have a legal obligation to hear their asylum requests … and to process these folks in accordance with the law. However, that doesn’t mean we can process all in a day,” a DHS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
The issue has come up as members of the more than 1,000-person caravan made their way through Mexico toward the border over the last few weeks. President Trump repeatedly called in April for border officials to block members of the caravan from entering the country, and since the weekend, several dozen of them have camped out at the border.
Despite Trump’s push to keep them out, only those who are caught illegally entering the country, as was the case for 11 suspected caravan members over the weekend, will be prosecuted and immediately deported.
Others can apply for asylum, and can apply for asylum in the U.S. even if they could have sought asylum in Mexico but chose not to do so, a CBP spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
“We are encouraging asylum seekers to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter. However, we will process asylum claims in accordance with the law,” the spokeswoman said.
The DHS official said the caravan migrants, who are mostly from Guatemala and Honduras, will be “treated the same” as any person who arrives on their own at the border and cites credible fear concerns. But that doesn’t mean they will all get asylum, and different people can be processed at different rates of speed.
“As a general matter, individuals will continue to be processed in the order that they arrive at the port of entry. However, on a case-by-case basis, and at the determination of port management, certain individuals may be given priority (for example, those presenting urgent humanitarian needs),” the spokeswoman said.
Another issue for U.S. Customs and Border Protection is how quickly it can process the higher-than-normal number of asylum seekers, according to a CBP official based in San Diego, Calif.
On Sunday, CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan announced the port would not be able to process everyone immediately because of other tasks that need to be done. A CBP spokeswoman in California said the port was inundated with hundreds of Mexican nationals attempting to claim asylum in the days before the Central American group showed up, prompting a back-up.
There’s no timeline on how quickly CBP must process people, but there are standards governing when port officers are deemed free to do so, including the amount of holding space, overall port volume of traffic, officer resources, complexity of the cases, medical needs, translation requirements, and enforcement actions.
“Part of what determines when we reach capacity is our ability to process individuals, admit them, permit them to lawfully enter or transfer them out of our custody in a safe and secure manner,” the CBP official said. “At times, this has required us to limit the number of people we can bring in the port facility for processing at a given time, including in 2016 when an influx of Haitians arrived at the California border, and as recently as within the past six months.”
However, between Monday and Tuesday, 28 asylum requests from the caravan were processed, a different CBP official confirmed.
All three officials said under normal procedures, caravan migrants who do not have travel documents and express a fear of returning to their country will be scheduled for an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials to determine if their fear of persecution or torture is legitimate.Those waiting for an interview with USCIS will be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the meantime.
Both USCIS and ICE deployed additional prosecutors, judges, asylum officers, and immigration attorneys to the border in late April due to the anticipation of the caravan’s arrival.
If found to have a credible fear, the person will then have his or her case heard by an immigration judge. The person could then apply for relief from removal. If the judge decides the claim is illegitimate, the person can ask for his or her case to be reconsidered before he or she is sent back, the DHS official explained.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said 18 more immigration judges were being sent to the border to handle the increased caseload. He also said he was sending 35 assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute illegal immigrant entries.
