Border officials in San Diego plan to begin sending Central American migrants making credible fear claims back to Mexico, a Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to Washington Examiner Thursday evening.
Starting Friday, Customs and Border Protection officers will hear credible fear claims at the port of entry between Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, then tell these individuals — who fear suffering persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion back home — to return to Mexico rather than allowing them to wait in the U.S.
Migrants making the claim will then be given a notice to appear in court in San Diego and on that day they will have to return to the port and will then be driven by a federal officer to the U.S. courthouse to appear before a judge. It’s not clear how or when each person will receive that notice.
After that court date, the person will be driven back to the port and told to return to Mexico, where around 600 migrants continue living in shelters in Tijuana.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Immigration judges who are responsible for deciding asylum cases have been furloughed during the partial government shutdown, affecting this plan.
The Trump administration announced in early November plans to block Central American migrants who traveled in caravans to the U.S. from being able to enter and remain in the country while their asylum claims are processed.
Existing policy mandates that when an adult arrives at a port of entry and claims to have a credible fear of returning to his or her home country, they can stay in the U.S. while that initial claim is considered.
If the CBP officer who receives the initial claim finds it meets certain criteria, the migrant will be referred to Citizenship and Immigration Services officers to make a formal asylum claim. An immigration judge in the Justice Department will ultimately decide that person’s case.
That entire process can last up to one year, and occasionally up to two years.
Over the past three years, families from countries other than Canada and Mexico who make credible fear claims at the border are not held in federal custody more than 20 days as the result of a court ruling as part of the Flores settlement.
President Trump has claimed on multiple occasions that families who migrate to the U.S. do so knowing they will be released into the country and not have to show up for court proceedings.
Last September, DHS said 98 percent of the nearly 95,000 Central American “family units” apprehended in fiscal 2017 remain in the country.
Four in five asylum seekers at the southwest border are denied asylum by immigration judges, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Up until Friday, single adults would be held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or released with ankle monitors while awaiting their case to be decided. Children who show up without adults will still be allowed to remain in the U.S. while their claims are considered.
Last month, more than 25,000 people taken into custody at the southern border were families.
Due to the sheer volume of families arriving, the administration moved to block people from initially being admitted rather than taken into ICE custody and released into the U.S. while their cases are pending.
The policy change means CBP officers working at the San Ysidro port of entry, the highest-traffic border crossing in America, will have to turn around migrants after they have made a credible fear claim.
In mid-November, approximately 6,000 people from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America arrived in Tijuana. Since then, many have claimed credible fear at the U.S. ports, but border officials have said they can only accept so many claims per day. In addition, some migrants have chosen to attempt to illegally enter the country in that region, stretching Border Patrol thin due to the enhanced activity in the area.
