What Led Asylum Seekers From Cameroon To Tijuana?

Speaker 1: 00:00 The number of Cameroonians requesting asylum in the United States has increased in recent years as atrocities fueled by political violence continues in the country. Last week, a group of Cameroonian asylum seekers protested the immigration process into wanna. Here's one of those asylum seekers who identified himself only by his first name. Brown. Speaker 2: 00:22 Yeah, American government and the Mexican government. Your understand that we came a long way from Africa, from Kenya to this place. It took us about four to five months. [inaudible] jumbo. I'll rich [inaudible] up to this place and we have spent a lot of money. I mean be here. We don't have money to eat [inaudible] we are stranded. So we pleading on the boat government to see how did I have sir. Speaker 1: 00:48 We cannot confirm the exact number of people from Cameroon waiting into one or to request asylum in the u s but there are numerous stories like browns. Most are members of the English speaking minority, which has been facing intense persecution since 2016 to learn more about the conditions driving people from Cameroon to the southern border, midday edition cohost Jade Heineman spoke with Andrea Baron advocacy and outreach program manager with torture abolition and survivors support coalition. Here's that interview. Speaker 3: 01:21 Andrea, welcome. Thank you for having me today. Can you first tell me about the conflict and Cameroon? Speaker 4: 01:27 We work with survivors of torture from all over the world. And recently we've seen an increasing number of Cameroonians. Um, many of them are anglophone English speaking Cameroonians who are applying for asylum here in the United States because they have been tortured by the government. So, uh, Cameroon has a dictatorship headed by a man named Paul Dia who has been in power for many, many years. And recently in the last few years we've seen increasing repression from the French dominated government against people living in the anglophone regions of the country, in the southwest and northwest, uh, regions. And what's happening is the French dominated government is trying to impose French speaking teachers and magistrates and lawyers in the anglophone zone. And so people that we see have already been tortured in detention. And I'm terrified about returning back to camera. And for those reasons Speaker 3: 02:30 you've mentioned that people in Cameroon are being tortured. I want you to talk more about, um, what is happening and if that qualifies people therefore asylum in the u s Speaker 4: 02:40 well, okay. So, uh, you people can get qualified for asylum if they show a well founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Particular social group is usually, for example, a good example would be people, the LGBT community, they're a particular social group and they are being persecuted because of their sexual orientation. Most of the people we see here at task, um, that are coming from African countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea, Cameroon, uh, are being persecuted, were tortured because of their political opinions. That that means that they participated in a political, a peaceful political demonstration. They were journalists, they wrote an article, um, simply supporting an opposition political party in a dictatorship. Speaker 3: 03:31 And I'm curious to know, you know, how is your organization working to help Cameroonian asylum seekers? Speaker 4: 03:37 So we have a social service department or will we refer them out to the community health center. We also provide psychological counseling right here at task. A lot of people are suffering. The Cameroonians and other survivors of torture are going to suffer nightmares about how they would treat it because their life was threatened. Um, you know, there are, there are, uh, women, these, I can't say I've met any Cameroonians in this particular situation, but we have, uh, female torture survivors who were raped when they were in detention. Um, that that's more the case of the Ethiopians. And, um, then we also provide, in addition to that, we also provide lawyers, pro bono lawyers. So not all as survivors will get a, a pro bono lawyer, but if they can't afford it and they don't have enough money to pay for their own lawyer, we will provide them a lawyer, uh, where they can provide, uh, their, uh, prepare their asylum application and then their asylum application. They will provide documentation about what happened to them and how they were persecuted. We also do advocacy. So I'm the advocacy program director. So my job is to bring people to Congress and have people co survivors of torture, have the opportunity to meet members of Congress and their staff, Democrats and Republicans. And talk about how the United States represents a hope for them for freedom coming from repressive dictatorships. Speaker 3: 04:56 Uh, do you have any idea of the unique challenges Cameroonian seeking asylum waiting at the border and t quanta might be experiencing? Speaker 4: 05:04 Yes. Um, we have one asylum seeker from Cameroon who was detained for four months in Oh, ty Messa and he was a professional in his country and he was shocked when he crossed the border and he was detained. Uh, he was handcuffed. They put chains around his waist. He was just absolutely surprised because he thought that the United States stands up freedom rule of law. And this is a country where he was seeking protection because his life was at risk in Cameroon. He did get freed on a bond, a $5,000. Um, so now he's here and he's preparing his case. The other thing that happens is the survivors of torture from Cameroon that we see and from other countries were professionals in their country. Uh, they did not come here as economic migrants. They did not come here for a better economic and they will end up working in very, very low level jobs like seven 11, um, or you know, a gas station after having been high level professionals in their countries. But that's a real challenge because part of their identity was as you know, professionals and they have to change their identity now in order to save their lives. Speaker 3: 06:17 And you know, I'm, I'm wondering what is the healing process and how does someone return to normalcy, who's, um, had to flee a country, uh, and then settle in a foreign country. What is that process like and how does your organization help to bridge the gap there? Speaker 4: 06:32 Well, so we have, um, we have two kinds of counseling. We have individual counseling, one on one counseling with, uh, uh, counselors and social workers. Uh, and that helps some of the survivors get over this stress and the Hora. We also have community programs. You call them communities of healing, where we bring survivors of torture together and all different kinds of activities. It could be something like gardening, it could be a soccer game, it could be art therapy. So they connect to each other as survivors so that they know there are other people like them who have survived torture. And the other thing that I think is very, very important is that we, uh, they get to meet other survivors who have moved forward in their lives. Um, you know, for example, these are not just Cameroonians, but we've had survivors who were medical doctors and he became a forensic psychologist, uh, survivors who worked in a researcher in HIV aids, um, who finally up a long time, got a job in the health field here so that they can meet the new league. The new survivors can meet other survivors who've been here longer, who'd been granted asylum and who were moving forward in their lives, changing their careers, reunited with your families after they're granted asylum. So they see that there's hope in the future for them. So we provide that support from our, our own staff, but also by connecting them to other survivors who've been successful in their lives. And that makes a huge difference. Yeah. Speaker 3: 07:58 I've been speaking with Andrea Baer and advocacy and outreach program manager with torture abolition and survivors support coalition. Andrea, thank you so much for joining us. Speaker 4: 08:08 Thank you. Speaker 3: 08:09 And She was speaking to midday edition cohost Jade Hindman. Speaker 5: 08:16 [inaudible].