Jessica León, an Ecuadorian immigrant seeking asylum, climbed over a border wall Tuesday with her three-year-old daughter, setting foot on U.S. soil in San Diego, California, hours before a new ban on claims went into effect of asylum.
She and a dozen other migrants from Guatemala, Colombia and Vietnam who climbed the wall immediately turned themselves in to U.S. border agents. They were told to reach a place known as Whiskey 8, a dusty strip of American territory between two border walls, one dividing the United States from Mexico and the second, a more imposing obstacle, a few meters to the north.
The open-air detention site has become a symbol of the chaotic US asylum process, which US President Joe Biden says desperately needs reform. In a sweeping executive order announced Tuesday, Biden implemented a ban on asylum claims that allows U.S. immigration authorities to quickly deport immigrants who cross the border illegally to their home countries or back to Mexico.
Immigration activists criticized Biden’s decision, saying it mirrored the harsh actions of his Republican predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Both will face each other again in the US elections on November 5.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it plans to sue over Biden’s measures.
León and her daughter arrived just hours before the policy took effect, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time this Wednesday, or 9:01 p.m. Tuesday in San Diego.
Some asylum-seeking immigrants arrive alone at Whiskey 8. Others who have been detained by Border Patrol elsewhere between the two walls are taken there or forced to walk there for further processing.
It was not yet clear on Wednesday how long the Whiskey 8 routine will continue. Aid workers said a group of 85 migrants gathered at the site on Wednesday morning despite the ban taking effect.
Like many who were lined up in Tijuana, Mexico, waiting to cross the border Tuesday, immigrants who apply for a legal port of entry through a government app on their cellphone will still be allowed entry.
“I AM COMPLETELY ALONE”
After spending her last $3,000 on a month-long overland trip from Ecuador, León, a 28-year-old cleaner, said she wants a better life for her daughter.
“I’m completely alone with her,” she said, looking at her daughter and crying during a brief interview conducted between the pillars of a nine-meter-high border fence.
At Whiskey 8, designated by the Border Patrol, people have access to aid workers, immigration lawyers and journalists who can meet on the other side. The wall’s pillars are far enough apart to talk, deliver food and water, or charge a cell phone, but too close for a human to pass between them.
Asked why he left his home in the Andean city of Cuenca, León cited the criminal climate: “they kill, they steal, they extort.”
Source: Terra
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