New challenges for those seeking asylum in the US

2023-05-19 17:33:38, Kosova & Bota CNA

US authorities say they have turned back thousands of people who crossed the US border illegally. Since the May 11 lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, new, tougher rules have been in place at the US-Mexico border. Voice of America correspondent Celia Mendoza brings the voices of those many immigrants who want to follow the legal path to enter the US. They say applying for asylum is very difficult.

Luis Pineda, a 10-year-old boy from Venezuela and his mother, are now at the border between the United States and Mexico.

They want to follow the rules, taking their case to US Border Patrol agents, who process thousands of cases like theirs a day. But Luis and his mother are just two of the hordes of people trying to cross into the US.

Fidel Baca of the US Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, says his unit has encountered an average of about 1,150 people a day crossing the border this month.

" What we've seen in recent weeks is a large number of people crossing the border illegally in El Paso, Texas. They cross the river and turn themselves in to the Border Patrol ."

According to Mr. Baca, from October to March, Border Patrol authorities from the El Paso unit encountered 265,000 people along the US-Mexico border.

The US authorities have announced the establishment of new measures aimed at preventing illegal crossing of the border while establishing legal routes for migrants to secure asylum. This is through online applications as well as finding a person within the United States who takes over the financial costs of their stay. In the same way, immigrants are subject to checks of their writing.

Border agents have called on immigrants who want to seek asylum to schedule meetings with Customs and Border Protection agents through an application that this agency has made available, which can be downloaded to the phone.

“ We recommend that those who want an appointment with our customs agents use the 'CBP One' app. It's free to download and it's a surefire way to guarantee an appointment with us ," says Elias Rodríguez, CBP Public Affairs Sector.

But migrants say the app has technical glitches and a lack of internet access can make using it problematic.

This migrant who has already crossed the border says that the app did not work for him. He asked not to be identified.

" I tried to set a date for meeting and I didn't succeed. This is absolutely ridiculous. While asking for a photo, the app went offline. It's not up to us to make it work. It is the disappointment that makes you choose the other path, that of crossing the border illegally ," he said.

Luis and his mother traveled to Mexico, passing through the dense jungle and the infamous 'Darien Gap', which straddles the Colombia-Panama border. They surrendered to the authorities, and say they are convinced that after what they have been through, there is no going back to Venezuela.