Immigrant Rights Advocate Denounces Sessions' Change To Asylum Policy

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced a major change in the way immigration judges decide to grant asylum to people fleeing violence in their own countries. He's declared that most victims of domestic and gang violence no longer qualify for asylum in the United States a move that could block tens of thousands from seeking or gaining asylum in this country. Our guest Nicole Ramos is an immigration attorney and project director with Oprah ladu a group that works with refugees and asylum seekers in Tijuana. Nicole thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. So Nicole what are you hearing from the people that you're working with. How many of them would you say are actually fleeing domestic and gang violence. What kinds of stories are you hearing. Well our work here is primarily with Central American asylum seekers and Mexican asylum seekers from southern Mexico although we do see other nationalities at this border point and the large majority of them are fleeing gang violence in Central America. Cartel violence here in Mexico and across both of the Territory's extreme levels of domestic violence that would be very difficult for someone just living an average in America to be able to wrap their brains around. Will his announcement change what you tell asylum seekers and what you advise them to do. Absolutely. Because what we have to do here is advise people as to what is the state of the law and what are their prospects for long term detention family separation and success on the merits of their claim. I don't believe though that it will be an ultimate deterrent because when you are fleeing situations which are so desperate and so violent your only choice is to stay and be killed or leave and try to find a safer place. The sessions argument is that the United States asylum law never intended to solve all the problems of what he's calling private violence that people face every day around the world. So how do you respond to that argument. Jeff Sessions is not an immigration attorney nor a human rights attorney so his foundational knowledge of the purpose of asylum law is deeply flawed. And I would also argue that he does not understand how central American and Mexican politics work these gangs and these cartels are the government they are a shadow government and they are as as as infiltrated and integrated as as an outside organization could be into a government. And that is what asylum law is designed to protect people from. I would add to that asylum law is as to protect vulnerable groups of people women in domestic violence situations and these countries are forced relationships. We see a lot of forced marriage in forced girlfriend relationships with gang members or cartel members. They are a group of individuals that are identified in society as more vulnerable having less value having less right to protection under the law and are treated as such. That is the whole crux of protection as a particular social group under asylum law. So now apart from this week's announcement Sessions has also moved towards a zero tolerance policy on illegal border crossers. How are the effects of that being felt on the people that you work with in Tijuana. The people that we work with in Tijuana are people that are trying to present themselves out of port of entry which they are legally entitled to do under Title 8 Section 12 25 of the U.S. code. However what we are seeing is Customs and Border Protection and ice telling these asylum seekers all along all the entry points to the border that there is no room there's no space to process them and that they are at capacity. So it would appear that you know this roundup of individuals that are entering through irregular means is perhaps challenging the capacity of some of the facilities for holding them. However what it is is is another move to criminalize refugees. A person can seek asylum through irregular means and international law although the U.S. refuses to frequently follow international human rights law is very clear that a person can still seek asylum even if they enter our country through irregular means. So we're criminalizing people who again are the most vulnerable among us. Now we also heard that children are being separated from their parents and kept in separate detention facilities. Are you hearing of families who are now thinking twice about crossing because they're afraid they will be separated or they're still willing to take the risk. Absolutely. Some families are thinking more critically whether they should pursue asylum in the U.S. even if they have a claim that's really strong because they're desperately afraid of being separated from their children. And I want to point out here that Jeff Sessions and Secretary Nealson of DHS have said that they will only detain and separate families that are crossing through irregular means. However what we have seen at least at this border point in Tijuana. They have been separating families since at least last May of 2017 and individuals who had entered our port of entry and presented themselves to U.S. authorities in accordance with U.S. law and presented sufficient documentation of a family relationship to guard against any concerns that this perhaps is a smuggled child. You also worked with people from the caravan that arrived at the border here in Tijuana recently and lot of them came into the United States. But there are others who decided to stay back in Mexico. What are they up to now. Were they still there. Yeah a lot of people are still in Mexico when the caravan set out. It was around twelve hundred and then approximately 250 people include including the children presented themselves. Other individuals have been able to obtain humanitarian visas from Mexican immigration. Others are still in process of applying for humanitarian visas which is a temporary form of status. It's not the same as a teenage asylum but they still thought that perhaps that was even a safer option than trying to pursue an asylum claim in the U.S.. Well I want to ask you one final question with all of these recent developments the zero zero tolerance to children being separated from their parents. Now this announcement about restricting the criteria for being allowed to gain asylum what is the mood among the people that you're working with. The mood is one of rage. You know I would say there are undertones of sadness but it is one of rage. They are threatening the very right to seek protection. Well Nicole thanks for bringing us the perspective of the people looking for safety in this country. Thanks. Thank you for having me. That's Nicole Ramos of the group otro lado.