Not a single migrant granted US asylum since start of Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' program

Published Jul 31, 2019

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San Diego - More than five months into the Trump

administration's "Remain in Mexico" program, not a single

asylum-seeker has been granted refuge in the United States as

migrants struggle to find legal representation, according to a new

report.

The report published Monday by the Transactional Records Access

Clearinghouse - or TRAC - at Syracuse University reviewed immigration

court records from January to the end of June. Researchers found that

of the 1,155 Remain in Mexico cases that have been decided, only 14

of them had legal representation - that is just 1.2 percent.

"Clearly, the record thus far is that very few asylum-seekers forced

to remain in Mexico have been able to secure representation for their

upcoming immigration court proceedings," the report states.

In immigration court, the government is not required to provide

applicants with free legal counsel. Migrants have the right to an

attorney as long as they can afford to hire one or find one willing

to take their cases for free.

Legal representation greatly increases someone's chances of being

granted asylum. Data shows that applicants represented by attorneys

are five times more likely to receive asylum than applicants without,

according to TRAC.

Under the Remain in Mexico policy - officially known as Migrant

Protection Protocols, or MPP - asylum-seekers who show a credible

fear of persecution in their home countries are sent to Mexico to

await asylum proceedings in the U.S.

Previously, asylum-seekers who passed the credible fear interview

were allowed to wait in the United States, usually in a detention

facility or with family members.

San Diego based-immigration attorneys weren't surprised by the lack

of legal representation available to asylum-seekers.

"There is a daily desperate call for attorneys to help," said

immigration lawyer Andrew Nietor. "There are various Listservs and

Facebook groups that attorneys who take on asylum cases belong to and

it's now a daily plea. 'Can someone take an MPP case? Is anyone

available to help?'"

In San Diego, most of the lawyers representing asylum-seekers in the

Remain in Mexico program work for nonprofits like Jewish Family

Service, the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial

Counties or Al Otro Lado.

For private immigration attorneys like Nietor, the logistical hurdles

or representing someone who lives in another country are too much to

overcome.

Asylum cases are some of the most time consuming and complex cases in

immigration court. Typically, an attorney meets with a client several

times because they need to build trust, corroborate the persecution

by reaching out to other family members, and ask for police or

medical records from the home country.

"By their nature, asylum cases involve very personal stories of

persecution, abuse, often torture and rape," Nietor said. "So it's

not the sort of conversation somebody should have from a public phone

in a homeless shelter to a faceless attorney in another country."

Additionally, meeting one client in Tijuana would take an entire day

when factoring in the travel time, he added.

The lack of legal representation in Remain in Mexico appears to be

having an impact on the outcome of those cases.

Since Remain in Mexico was introduced in January, not a single

asylum-seeker has been granted asylum. It should be noted that only

1,155 Remain in Mexico cases have been decided, and there are more

than 12,900 cases pending.

Of the 1,155 cases that have been decided, 285 have resulted in

removal orders - meaning the applicant is ordered to be deported.

The vast majority of those removal orders have been granted in

absentia because the applicant did not show up to court. Only 21

Remain in Mexico cases have resulted in removal orders because of the

merits of the asylum claim. None of those cases had legal

representation, according to TRAC.

The other cases were closed because of a variety of reasons,

including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers not

properly notifying applicants of a court hearing, data shows.

tca/dpa

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