Brownsville, Texas — U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen assured asylum-seeking families Monday they won’t be separated if they come through a port of entry. However, many migrants are being turned away there.
Nine people, mostly Central Americans and one Brazilian family, were all trying to weather a rain storm, using plastic bags and pieces of carton to keep themselves and their belongings dry. They were waiting for their turn on the Mexican side of the Brownsville Gateway International Bridge to get their asylum claim filed.
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Elsy Hernandez, a single Honduran mother carrying her 5-year-old daughter and her 9-year-old son, was putting on a brave face. It was the third night she spent waiting outside. Hernandez said she was told by Customs and Border Protection agents she needed to stick around or else she would lose her spot in line. She wasn’t aware she could face prosecution and have her children separated from her had she crossed the river illegally instead.
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Just two weeks ago, asylum seekers at the Hidalgo, Texas port of entry were waiting on the U.S. side to be processed. That was until CBP decided, a week later, to move agents to the middle of the bridge to filter out pedestrians without documents.
It’s a practice Nielsen said was necessary. “If we do not have enough bed space, if we do not have enough medical personnel on staff, if we do not have enough caretakers on staff, then we will tell people who come to the border they need to come back,” she said.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley doesn’t buy that explanation. He and a group of Democratic congressmen were given a tour of the Hidalgo International bridge by CBP Sunday.
“The administration could respond by reallocating resources to address this situation, they are choosing not to,” he said. “That means they are just trying to prevent people from coming in.”
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A 22-year-old Guatemalan man, who was also camping out at the Brownsville bridge, came to the border on his own after multiple threats on his life back home, he said. Safety is why he’s staying on the bridge as many days as necessary as he fears falling prey to cartels in Mexico.
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The Brownsville Gateway bridge is only one of a few where asylum seekers can be found. The families the KENS 5 Border Team spoke to said that because of the wet conditions, they will likely have to sleep overnight standing up, waiting their turn.
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