US bound migrants, asylum-seekers wait out policy changes
ISLAMABAD, Sep 15 (APP):The US Border Patrol has intercepted more than 800,000 migrants and asylum-seekers at the US-Mexico border so far during the current year, said the US Border Patrol in its report.
In recent months, the Trump administration has returned tens of thousands of mostly Central American migrants to Mexico to await US immigration hearings under the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, Voice of America reported.
On last Wednesday, the US Supreme Court allowed the administration to deny asylum to all recent non-Mexican claimants who had not already been denied asylum in a third country before reaching the U.S. border. Even before the Supreme Court decision, the US officials reported that nine of 10 asylum claims were being rejected.
Despite such statistics and amid rapidly shifting US 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 Victoria Macchi and Ramon Taylor spoke with a broad sampling of migrants and asylum seekers in early August. Many departed their home countries months before US policy changes went into effect, under assumptions that no long apply. All are awaiting immigration court hearings.
