The record number of families entering the U.S. and requesting asylum has overloaded a border enforcement system not designed to safely and quickly process them. Here is a step-by-step look at the process families go through and where the system is straining.
Port of entry
Waiting time: weeks to months
Upon arriving at the border, asylum seekers wait for weeks or months in Mexico just to enter the U.S. The long wait times are due to “metering,” a Trump administration policy that sets limits on the number of people who can enter each day.
Between ports of entry
The other route most migrants take is crossing illegally between the checkpoints. Most of them are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Families typically surrender to Border Patrol agents upon crossing to begin the asylum process. Those who opt to evade authorities are usually single adults seeking work. The 688,000 people apprehended at the border since the federal fiscal year began in October includes 390,000 traveling as families, the highest level on record.
Crossing the port
Once allowed in, migrants are taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, and start the asylum process.
Customs and Border Protection facilities
Migrants are then held in Border Patrol stations until they are either sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, or released. By law, the Border Patrol isn’t supposed to hold people for more than 72 hours. But the surge of migrants has caused overcrowding and holding times of weeks or longer.
Supposed to be 72 hours
Can be a week or few weeks
Facilities for those who enter through the ports are less crowded because of the “metering” policy.
To manage the overflow, authorities have opened tent camps, put children in cells for nearly a month, and in one case had migrants wait under a bridge, drawing criticism for conditions described as unclean and unsafe.
One of three things could happen from here.
Detained by ICE
Up to 20 days
Some families are sent to ICE where they can be held in a family detention center and start their immigration court proceedings. They must be released after 20 days, long before an asylum case can be completed. When single adults are sent to ICE, they are often deported or later released on bond.
Sent to Mexico
Can be from weeks to months
Some are sent to wait in Mexico for their first court appearance under a program launched by the Trump administration called the Migration Protection Protocols, often referred to as Remain in Mexico.
Sent to shelter or charity
Few days
Some are released directly to a shelter or charity, which arrange travel for migrants so they can meet up with friends or relatives in the U.S. as they wait for their first court appearance. Families sent to ICE first are sent here after.
Going to court
Migrants get their day in court. If for some reason the appearance doesn’t happen—whether they miss it, their lawyer has a conflict or their translator doesn’t show—the case goes to the back of the line. People wait for months or years for another date. There is a backlog of more than 908,000 cases pending in federal immigration court.
The process continues
Often more than a couple years
Multiple hearings will follow. The final hearing and decision can take years. The national average wait time is about 727 days, though the average wait eclipses 1,100 days in San Antonio and 1,000 days in Imperial, Calif., according to government data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
In the meantime, most families will live in the U.S., many with work permits that allow them to legally hold a job while they wait for a final ruling.
Port of entry
Waiting time: weeks to months
Upon arriving at the border, asylum seekers wait for weeks or months in Mexico just to enter the U.S. The long wait times are due to “metering,” a Trump administration policy that sets limits on the number of people who can enter each day.
Between ports of entry
The other route most migrants take is crossing illegally between the checkpoints. Most of them are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Families typically surrender to Border Patrol agents upon crossing to begin the asylum process. Those who opt to evade authorities are usually single adults seeking work. The 688,000 people apprehended at the border since the federal fiscal year began in October includes 390,000 traveling as families, the highest level on record.
Crossing the port
Once allowed in, migrants are taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, and start the asylum process.
Customs and Border Protection facilities
Migrants are then held in Border Patrol stations until they are either sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, or released. By law, the Border Patrol isn’t supposed to hold people for more than 72 hours. But the surge of migrants has caused overcrowding and holding times of weeks or longer.
Supposed to be 72 hours
Can be a week or few weeks
Facilities for those who enter through the ports are less crowded because of the “metering” policy.
To manage the overflow, authorities have opened tent camps, put children in cells for nearly a month, and in one case had migrants wait under a bridge, drawing criticism for conditions described as unclean and unsafe.
One of three things could happen from here.
Detained by ICE
Up to 20 days
Some families are sent to ICE where they can be held in a family detention center and start their immigration court proceedings. They must be released after 20 days, long before an asylum case can be completed. When single adults are sent to ICE, they are often deported or later released on bond.
Sent to Mexico
Can be from weeks to months
Some are sent to wait in Mexico for their first court appearance under a program launched by the Trump administration called the Migration Protection Protocols, often referred to as Remain in Mexico.
Sent to shelter or charity
Few days
Some are released directly to a shelter or charity, which arrange travel for migrants so they can meet up with friends or relatives in the U.S. as they wait for their first court appearance. Families sent to ICE first are sent here after.
Going to court
Migrants get their day in court. If for some reason the appearance doesn’t happen—whether they miss it, their lawyer has a conflict or their translator doesn’t show—the case goes to the back of the line. People wait for months or years for another date. There is a backlog of more than 908,000 cases pending in federal immigration court.
The process continues
Often more than a couple years
Multiple hearings will follow. The final hearing and decision can take years. The national average wait time is about 727 days, though the average wait eclipses 1,100 days in San Antonio and 1,000 days in Imperial, Calif., according to government data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
In the meantime, most families will live in the U.S., many with work permits that allow them to legally hold a job while they wait for a final ruling.
Port of entry
Waiting time: weeks to months
Upon arriving at the border, asylum seekers wait for weeks or months in Mexico just to enter the U.S. The long wait times are due to “metering,” a Trump administration policy that sets limits on the number of people who can enter each day.
Between ports of entry
The other route most migrants take is crossing illegally between the checkpoints. Most of them are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Families typically surrender to Border Patrol agents upon crossing to begin the asylum process. Those who opt to evade authorities are usually single adults seeking work. The 688,000 people apprehended at the border since the federal fiscal year began in October includes 390,000 traveling as families, the highest level on record.
Crossing the port
Once allowed in, migrants are taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, and start the asylum process.
Customs and Border Protection facilities
Migrants are then held in Border Patrol stations until they are either sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, or released. By law, the Border Patrol isn’t supposed to hold people for more than 72 hours. But the surge of migrants has caused overcrowding and holding times of weeks or longer.
Supposed to be 72 hours
Can be a week or few weeks
Facilities for those who enter through the ports are less crowded because of the “metering” policy.
To manage the overflow, authorities have opened tent camps, put children in cells for nearly a month, and in one case had migrants wait under a bridge, drawing criticism for conditions described as unclean and unsafe.
One of three things could happen from here.
Detained by ICE
Up to 20 days
Some families are sent to ICE where they can be held in a family detention center and start their immigration court proceedings. They must be released after 20 days, long before an asylum case can be completed. When single adults are sent to ICE, they are often deported or later released on bond.
Sent to Mexico
Can be from weeks to months
Some are sent to wait in Mexico for their first court appearance under a program launched by the Trump administration called the Migration Protection Protocols, often referred to as Remain in Mexico.
Sent to shelter or charity
Few days
Some are released directly to a shelter or charity, which arrange travel for migrants so they can meet up with friends or relatives in the U.S. as they wait for their first court appearance. Families sent to ICE first are sent here after.
Going to court
Migrants get their day in court. If for some reason the appearance doesn’t happen—whether they miss it, their lawyer has a conflict or their translator doesn’t show—the case goes to the back of the line. People wait for months or years for another date. There is a backlog of more than 908,000 cases pending in federal immigration court.
The process continues
Often more than a couple years
Multiple hearings will follow. The final hearing and decision can take years. The national average wait time is about 727 days, though the average wait eclipses 1,100 days in San Antonio and 1,000 days in Imperial, Calif., according to government data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
In the meantime, most families will live in the U.S., many with work permits that allow them to legally hold a job while they wait for a final ruling.
Port of entry
Waiting time:
weeks to months
Upon arriving at the border, asylum seekers wait for weeks or months in Mexico just to enter the U.S. The long wait times are due to “metering,” a Trump administration policy that sets limits on the number of people who can enter each day.
Between ports
The other route most migrants take is crossing illegally between the checkpoints. Most of them are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to U.S. government data.
Families typically surrender to Border Patrol agents upon crossing to begin the asylum process. Those who opt to evade authorities are usually single adults seeking work. The 688,000 people apprehended at the border since the federal fiscal year began in October includes 390,000 traveling as families, the highest level on record.
Crossing the port
Once allowed in, migrants are taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, and start the asylum process.
Customs and Border Protection facilities
Migrants are then held in Border Patrol stations until they are either sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, or released. By law, the Border Patrol isn’t supposed to hold people for more than 72 hours. But the surge of migrants has caused overcrowding and holding times of weeks or longer.
Supposed to be
72 hours
Can be a week or
few weeks
Facilities for those who enter through the ports are less crowded because of the “metering” policy.
To manage the overflow, authorities have opened tent camps, put children in cells for nearly a month, and in one case had migrants wait under a bridge, drawing criticism for conditions described as unclean and unsafe.
One of three things could happen from here.
Sent to Mexico
Detained by ICE
Up to 20 days
Can be from weeks
to months
Some families are sent to ICE where they can be held in a family detention center and start their immigration court proceedings. They must be released after 20 days, long before an asylum case can be completed. When single adults are sent to ICE, they are often deported or later released on bond.
Some are sent to wait in Mexico for their first court appearance under a program launched by the Trump administration called the Migration Protection Protocols, often referred to as Remain in Mexico.
Sent to shelter or charity
Few days
Some are released directly to a shelter or charity, which arrange travel for migrants so they can meet up with friends or relatives in the U.S. as they wait for their first court appearance. Families sent to ICE first are sent here after.
Going to court
Migrants get their day in court. If for some reason the appearance doesn’t happen—whether they miss it, their lawyer has a conflict or their translator doesn’t show—the case goes to the back of the line. People wait for months or years for another date. There is a backlog of more than 908,000 cases pending in federal immigration court.
The process continues
Often more than a couple years
Multiple hearings will follow. The final hearing and decision can take years. The national average wait time is about 727 days, though the average wait eclipses 1,100 days in San Antonio and 1,000 days in Imperial, Calif., according to government data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
In the meantime, most families will live in the U.S., many with work permits that allow them to legally hold a job while they wait for a final ruling.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/system-under-strain-how-the-u-s-actually-manages-the-thousands-of-migrant-families-entering-each-day-11563269400
2019-07-16 09:30:00Z
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