Migrants Say the Caravan Is the Safest Way to Get to the U.S. for Asylum

[DonViejo]

Fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, and under siege in Tijuana, hundreds see safety in numbers. In fact, they may be the only ones they can count on.

Jason McGahan
11.25.18 9:51 PM ET

TIJUANA, Mexico—U.S. Border Patrol agents in riot gear fired rounds of tear gas at hundreds of migrants who rushed a border crossing in Tijuana on Sunday. The clash began as a peaceful march of about 500 people protesting for the U.S. to speed up the processing of asylum requests at the border. Some of the participants in the protest scaled a border fence, while others ran across a canal that separates the two countries and tried to enter the U.S. through holes in the fence.

Migrants in Tijuana have been trying to enter the U.S. legally and present themselves to U.S immigration authorities for asylum, but the U.S. processes only about 100 applications for asylum a day, a rate that has slowed in recent months with new restrictions by the Trump administration.

Wait times for asylum interview can last months, and the difficult conditions in Tijuana leave migrants from the famous Central American caravan feeling they have no way out.

Keyla Villatorres fled the growing violence in Honduras last month with her 8-year-old son Justin and joined an exodus of migrants to the United States.

more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/migrants-say-the-caravan-is-the-safest-way-to-get-to-the-us-for-asylum?ref=home