The illegal immigrant caravan swamped border officials in San Diego Sunday as hundreds of people showed up at the San Ysidro port of entry and demanded admittance and asylum as reporters, immigrant rights activists and Mexican watched.
After a month of traveling across Mexico, hundreds of people, most of them from Honduras, massed in Tijuana and began to present themselves to U.S. border officials, reciting the script they've been coached to deliver to clear the first hurdles toward asylum.
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said the migrants will be taken in turn, but vowed to impose stiff penalties where possible, pointing to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's vows to pursue charges against anyone who lies to file a bogus asylum application, and against those who help people file bogus applications.
The caravan began in late March at Mexico's southern border, where perhaps 1,500 Central Americans gathered to make the trip north.
At President Trump's urging, Mexico stepped in and offered asylum to some and said it deported at least 400 others - but some 600 said they were intent on reaching the U.S. Security analysts said that signaled they were illegal immigrants rather than asylum-seekers, because they could have accepted asylum in Mexico, which is deemed a safe country.
Mr. McAleenan said the U.S. is working closely with Mexico to keep the caravan's efforts as orderly as possible by limiting how many people are allowed to show up and demand asylum.
Caravan organizers still chafed at the situation, complaining that Mexico was abetting U.S. immigration policies.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/29/migrant-caravan-reaches-us-border-demands-asylum/
After a month of traveling across Mexico, hundreds of people, most of them from Honduras, massed in Tijuana and began to present themselves to U.S. border officials, reciting the script they've been coached to deliver to clear the first hurdles toward asylum.
CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said the migrants will be taken in turn, but vowed to impose stiff penalties where possible, pointing to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's vows to pursue charges against anyone who lies to file a bogus asylum application, and against those who help people file bogus applications.
The caravan began in late March at Mexico's southern border, where perhaps 1,500 Central Americans gathered to make the trip north.
At President Trump's urging, Mexico stepped in and offered asylum to some and said it deported at least 400 others - but some 600 said they were intent on reaching the U.S. Security analysts said that signaled they were illegal immigrants rather than asylum-seekers, because they could have accepted asylum in Mexico, which is deemed a safe country.
Mr. McAleenan said the U.S. is working closely with Mexico to keep the caravan's efforts as orderly as possible by limiting how many people are allowed to show up and demand asylum.
Caravan organizers still chafed at the situation, complaining that Mexico was abetting U.S. immigration policies.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/29/migrant-caravan-reaches-us-border-demands-asylum/
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