Without warning yesterday, families are being forced to separate in the Rio Grande Valley and we need your help to fight it.
Photo taken 2/13/23 of families refusing to leave the Reynosa-Hidalgo bridge after they were told of the new change in policy that would force them to separate.
Yesterday, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) at Hidalgo and Brownsville ports of entry changed their policies overnight to stop allowing families to present together at their Title 42 exemption appointments, requiring individual appointments for each family member (which is impossible to achieve due to extremely limited spots).
This new policy is forcing parents to make the impossible decision of either separating from their children to pursue safety and an asylum claim, or to stay in immediate danger in Mexico together with their family intact. These are parents and families who had made appointments and crossing arrangements weeks ago in the CBP One App, only to be told of a devastating new policy in person once they reached their appointment.
Now they are forced to choose between seeking asylum or keeping their family together, an impossible decision that will lead to trauma, violence, and death for hundreds of our clients.
Photo of a family that was separated yesterday. The father went across to pursue asylum; the mother and children remain in Mexico
Our Project Corazon team has alerted us that people waiting for their chance to seek asylum are incredibly despondent, and the situation is a ticking time bomb. Families have banded together and refused to leave the bridge where they arrive for their asylum exemption appointments, and some are threatening to walk as a large group into the river with their children this weekend if this policy isn’t changed.
One asylum seeker we spoke to is named Adriana. Adriana fled Venezuela after being persecuted by the current regime with her mother and two children aged 12 and 13, and their family has been waiting in Matamoros to seek asylum in the U.S. since November 2022. They downloaded the CBP One App to request an exemption to Title 42, but each time that Adriana and her mother went to make an appointment, they could not find five appointment slots available on the same day. On February 1, Adriana and her mother decided to make individual appointments and ask the CBP officials if their children would be able to enter without securing their own appointments. CBP officials verbally confirmed to Adriana that since her children are minors they would be able to enter “attached” to her individual appointment, so they were looking forward to their appointment on February 15 with much hope.
Yesterday, on February 15, Adriana went to her appointment on the bridge that connects Matamoros to Brownsville with her mother and children, when they were informed that the policy had been changed and each family member present needed an appointment to enter. She was told she had to decide, on the spot, between seeking asylum or separating from her family and leaving her underage children alone in Mexico. Desperate, she did the only thing she knew to do: give up her appointment and chance at asylum and stay in Mexico with her children.
“I was desperate to not leave my children alone in a country as dangerous as Mexico. The border officials just said that I was wasting their time.”
Adriana is now feeling desperate, sad, and very scared. She’s afraid for her life and for the lives of her children in Mexico. She has no idea when she’ll be able to secure an appointment in the CBP One app for her entire family. Her saga has no end in site.
These policies are killing people and we must ACT NOW.
Help us flood the comment lines at both DHS and CBP. Call and tell them to change this dangerous and impossible policy of forcing all members of a family to secure a separate appointment and to instead KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER.
Lastly, please consider supporting Project Corazon so we can continue helping vulnerable asylum seekers at the border. Every dollar helps.
Thank you for your commitment to justice. We will keep you posted on this situation.
In solidarity,
Traci
Traci Feit Love
Founder and Executive Director
Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)