Asylum hopefuls camp out at San Luis Port of Entry
SAN LUIS (AZFamily) — It’s day two of President Biden’s new executive order at the border limiting asylum cases.
It’s in effect until encounters at the border drop to 1,500 per day for a full week.
Migrants are still able to show up at official ports of entry to seek asylum as long as they’ve first made an appointment through the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol App, CBP One.
At the San Luis Port of Entry, an encampment is growing of about 60 migrants waiting in line to make an asylum claim.
Most of the migrants there come from southern Mexico, traveling days to get to San Luis Mexico.
Some have been in line for days, while others have been waiting nearly 2 months. It is now their only option with President Biden’s new executive order.
Instead of crossing into the States and surrendering at any checkpoint, all migrants must now wait for an official appointment and can only cross through a port of entry after they’ve secured one.
Daily encounters have to decrease to 1,500 encounters for the order to be lifted. It’s been four years since numbers have been that low.
Jose Ramirez is from Guanajuato, Mexico. He said he had been camping out in San Luis, Mexico, for a month, waiting to get an asylum appointment.
“I’ve been in San Luis for a month. I first went to Tijuana but then decided to come over here,” said Ramirez. He said for him, this was the only option because he could not afford to pay a coyote or human trafficker to cross him into the States.
Despite the rough conditions and unbearable heat at the tent camp, Ramirez said he’ll wait his turn because he can’t return home.
It’s unclear how long he and all the others will have to wait.
Biden’s policy exempts unaccompanied minors and victims of human trafficking.
The president promised to send more resources to speed up processing at the border, but until then, migrants like Jose are holding on to their faith.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
