Supreme Court Ruling Worsens Agony for Migrants Stuck at Border

(Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Supreme Court decision preventing thousands of migrants from claiming asylum at the border threatens families as safety and health deteriorate for a suddenly immobile population, say immigration lawyers and activists.

The travelers, many with small children, are now rushing to find housing, food and medical care as they’re stuck in dangerous Mexican border cities for far longer than they or their hosts expected.

The latest blow to people fleeing violence and political unrest arrives amid President Donald Trump’s push to drive down border crossings. Those numbers have already plunged after he persuaded Mexico under threat of tariffs to send more than 25,000 national guard troops to its borders and to receive tens of thousands of asylum seekers awaiting court hearings in the U.S.

“This stay is a death sentence for asylum seekers at our southern border, and a disturbing endorsement of this administration’s efforts to unilaterally rewrite asylum laws,” wrote Karlyn Kurichety, a lawyer for Al Otro Lado, a legal-aid organization operating in Tijuana, where the group says more than 10,000 are seeking asylum.

After the court decision was announced, the White House issued a statement saying it allowed the administration to make “needed fixes to the broken asylum system,” adding, “This greatly helps build on the progress we’ve made addressing the crisis at our southern border and will ultimately make American communities safer.”

The Sept. 11 decision allows the Trump administration to enforce a new rule sharply limiting who can apply for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. While a legal challenge proceeds, Central Americans who cross through Mexico won’t be able to claim refugee status in the U.S. unless they previously applied for protection from one of the countries they passed through.

For months, those seeking asylum have been returned to Mexico to await their court dates, a program known informally as Remain in Mexico. Only about 1% of those in the program are represented by attorneys in immigration court, said Denise Gilman, the director of the immigration clinic at the University of Texas at Austin law school.

Trump, who has promised to physically seal the border, told Republican lawmakers Thursday night that the ruling, 7-2, was important “because we want to build that wall.”

Kidnap Victims

In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across from El Paso, Texas, more than 6,000 people are registered as waiting in line just to receive court dates. Many are at shelters run by charities where small children have been sleeping for months on exercise mats. Shelters have been attacked by gunmen, and migrants have been kidnapped by human traffickers as they wait for their names to be called by the U.S. Often, only 10 to 20 families a day are interviewed.

At a migrant camp on the Mexico side of the Gateway International Bridge, which links Matamoros to Brownsville, Texas, migrants don’t have access to showers and resort to bathing in the Rio Grande River, said Dani Marrero Hi, an outreach coordinator at the Texas Civil Rights Project. Earlier this week, a 17-year-old girl had to be rescued after she couldn’t swim against the current, she said.

“The folks who are there at the migrant camp, many of them have been extorted,” Marrero Hi said. “It’s terrible for them. It’s so hot -- there are so many children who are getting sick from heat exhaustion. Humanitarian aid groups are doing their absolute best to get doctors out there. It’s not enough.”

Jennifer, a 29-year-old asylum seeker from El Salvador, is worried the court decision could prolong her stay at a shelter in Juarez, where her 9-month-old son has had to be hospitalized with lung complications. “After three months in Mexico, I won’t have access to public medicine anymore,” said Jennifer, who asked that her last name not be published for fear it could interfere with her case. “It would be very difficult for me to be alone in Mexico.”

Those who haven’t gotten court dates won’t likely be able to seek asylum, and those who have may still be turned away, said Linda Rivas, executive director at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso. The Supreme Court lifted an injunction protecting migrants from the Trump administration rule. While the rule could still be overturned, the decision is telling about how the justices might decide on the merits of the case, she said.

“This is very eye opening to see the Supreme Court rule on the side that essentially doesn’t protect migrants,” Rivas said.

‘Uncourtlike’ Conditions

The Mexican government has said it disagrees with the court, but has yet to say whether it will boost funding to address the humanitarian needs of migrants. “Of course there’s an impact because of all of those who are seeking asylum from different nationalities,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Thursday.

In Laredo and Brownsville, asylum proceedings were held earlier this week via video conference in temporary courts made of tents, cargo containers, and portable trailers at ports of entry. “They’re incredibly uncourtlike,” Gilman said. “They’ll be almost entirely lacking in due process.”

Video conferencing is a particular challenge. It can make it difficult to assess the credibility of asylum applicants, in part because they may be unable to see their interpreter, and the judge may have trouble seeing the applicant.

“It’s pretty clear that these proceedings are not actually set up to adjudicate asylum claims,” she said. “They’re set up to turn away asylum seekers.”

--With assistance from Michael Shepard.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net;Polly Mosendz in New York at pmosendz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stephen Merelman

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