WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:09.680 From Futuro Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Madriaojosa 2 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:14.040 today part one of our award winning series from twenty 3 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.439 twenty called The Moving Border. Dear listener, we're rebroadcasting part 4 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:23.400 one of The Moving Border, our award winning series exploring 5 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:28.080 asylum and the somewhat secretive partnership between Mexico and the 6 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:32.240 United States. This story originally aired in May of twenty twenty, 7 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.880 when order policies were being made under the Trump administration. 8 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:40.080 Things have changed since then, but how much have they? 9 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:43.240 We're going to be exploring that question later this year 10 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.720 as we continue the Moving Border series and delve into 11 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:50.640 the border policy now under the Biden administration. In fact, 12 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.200 this story was the impetus to create my new investigative unit. 13 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:59.400 It's called Fudurodajosa, But for now from twenty twenty, here's 14 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:08.160 the award waiting first part of The Moving Border. It 15 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:11.760 all began with a four letter word wall. 16 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.920 I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls 17 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:15.360 better than me. 18 00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:15.880 Believe me. 19 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:19.279 I will build a great, great wall. 20 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.200 On our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay 21 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:23.160 for that wall. 22 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:24.760 Mark my works. 23 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:28.319 As Donald Trump's campaign for president heated up four years ago. 24 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.199 It was the word that launched a thousand rallies. 25 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.320 Because I've been hearing a lot of things. Oh, the 26 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:37.200 wall didn't make that much of a difference. You know 27 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:40.120 where it made a big difference. Right here in El Paso. 28 00:01:40.720 --> 00:01:43.160 We're gonna build the wall. We have no choice, we 29 00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:48.000 have no choice. Build that wall, Build that wall, Build 30 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:50.080 that wall, Build that wall. 31 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.840 Build Now, most immigration experts would tell you it was 32 00:01:53.880 --> 00:01:56.800 a fantasy. It was too expensive, not to mention that 33 00:01:56.800 --> 00:01:59.720 it wouldn't solve the problem of people crossing the border 34 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.080 without papers, let alone do anything to address the growing 35 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.160 number of asylum seekers legally asking for refuge at ports 36 00:02:07.160 --> 00:02:12.120 of entry. But there was a simplicity to it, a catchiness. 37 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:16.560 Build the wall. It reduced a complicated issue to a 38 00:02:16.600 --> 00:02:19.840 small idea, and it very well may have catapulted a 39 00:02:19.880 --> 00:02:27.680 reality television star into the nation's highest office. The phrase, 40 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:31.120 of course, wasn't just build the wall. It was also 41 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:35.760 make Mexico pay for it. Now. In Mexico, this was 42 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:39.399 widely ridiculed. It was the material of jokes and can 43 00:02:39.440 --> 00:02:50.359 you believe this guy? Dinner conversations devastation. Shortly after Trump's 44 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:54.680 inauguration in twenty seventeen, then President Enrique Bagnaneto went on 45 00:02:54.760 --> 00:02:57.160 TV to make Mexico's position clear. 46 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.920 Mexico nokrelos more luvicho una yotravis. 47 00:03:03.440 --> 00:03:08.919 Mexico no pagaran. Mexico doesn't believe in walls. 48 00:03:09.200 --> 00:03:09.640 He said. 49 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.600 I've said it again and again. Mexico isn't going to 50 00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:19.040 pay for any wall. Now it's near the end of 51 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:23.360 the first term of the Trump presidency and something perhaps 52 00:03:23.440 --> 00:03:29.720 unexpected has happened. Mexico has a new president, a leftist 53 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:33.920 and a populist. He, like his predecessor, scoffed at the 54 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:37.320 idea of paying for the wall. Yet to the surprise 55 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:41.600 of many, he's become a willing partner in Trump's mission 56 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:48.160 of slowing immigration to a trickle. Trump hasn't built his 57 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:51.640 promised wall, at least not more than a few small 58 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:55.000 sections of it. But it turns out he doesn't need it, 59 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:01.120 and that's because the wall has become Mexico itself. The 60 00:04:01.160 --> 00:04:04.600 real wall, the one that President Trump has successfully built, 61 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.400 is not a wall of steel or even cement. You 62 00:04:08.440 --> 00:04:11.440 could actually say it's a paper wall. It's a wall 63 00:04:11.480 --> 00:04:15.560 of policies, policies that push migrants out of the US 64 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.640 and further and further south into Mexico. These are policies 65 00:04:20.760 --> 00:04:24.320 made by the United States government, as well as Mexican 66 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:28.520 policies made under pressure and with financial support from the 67 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:33.080 United States. In January of this year, I visited Mexico 68 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:37.400 both its northern and southern borders to learn more about 69 00:04:37.440 --> 00:04:40.560 this policy wall and how it's affecting the lives of 70 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:44.479 migrants today. I see razor wire now to my right, 71 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:50.839 a gate over the pathway. I started by crossing the 72 00:04:50.880 --> 00:04:54.960 border into Suda Quadris. It's a huge, busy city of 73 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.680 nearly one and a half million people right across the 74 00:04:57.760 --> 00:05:01.359 Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas is its sister city. 75 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:04.159 And as a little girl, I remember making this crossing 76 00:05:04.200 --> 00:05:07.080 a couple of times on family vacations to Mexico. But 77 00:05:07.320 --> 00:05:12.599 now it seems so different. So I've got fence above 78 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:16.080 my head, fencing to my right, fencing to my left. 79 00:05:16.200 --> 00:05:20.839 It's like I'm in a cage. It's a little strange, 80 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:27.160 and I'm just getting to the big, huge, rusted, massive 81 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:35.760 barricade that is the fence, the wall. It's long, rusty, brown, 82 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:39.960 and this was not here. In all of the years 83 00:05:39.960 --> 00:05:44.760 that I crossed as a little kid, you never saw this. 84 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:52.840 The border crossing between these two cities is a place 85 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:56.320 where the Trump administration has piloted many of its new 86 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:59.840 immigration programs. So what is a place where you get 87 00:05:59.880 --> 00:06:04.080 a chance to see the results. We're going to look 88 00:06:04.080 --> 00:06:08.760 at policies facing one group of migrants. Specifically, they're considered 89 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:12.560 the most vulnerable. They're asylum seekers, and they're supposed to 90 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:17.520 have the most protections and care. Over the last couple 91 00:06:17.520 --> 00:06:21.520 of years, makeshift tent camps of asylum seekers have popped 92 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.800 up in cities and towns all along the border. There 93 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:28.479 are families that are sleeping under bridges right out in 94 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:32.039 the open. Here into that what is a large encampment 95 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:35.520 at a park where thousands of people were living has 96 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:40.440 recently been disbanded. Now those asylum seekers are scattered throughout 97 00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:43.840 the city, staying in a series of shelters run by 98 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.920 churches and private organizations. And one of those shelters will 99 00:06:47.960 --> 00:06:53.680 be our first stop. So now we're in a very 100 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:57.160 poor area of what is the street that we're on 101 00:06:57.320 --> 00:07:01.040 is not paved, it's all dirt. The shelter we visit 102 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.680 is located in a squat building with a plain white 103 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:08.520 wall and a sign outside that says it's a community center. 104 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:12.080 There are some kids outside play soccer, and they told 105 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:30.480 me that migrants live here blatt this. We walked towards 106 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:33.720 the back of this place and I just begin to 107 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:37.680 follow the smell. There's a mixture of sweet and salty 108 00:07:37.840 --> 00:07:47.160 coming from the kitchen. Can see on a very small stove, 109 00:07:47.760 --> 00:07:51.720 one woman is stirring hot cereal with milk for her kids. 110 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:55.320 On another burner, a young man with a funky haircut 111 00:07:55.400 --> 00:07:58.560 and a pink and blue jacket is making sopita de 112 00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:02.160 boyo chicken soup. There's an older woman who's getting her 113 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.160 hair dyed in the kitchen, and others are sitting in 114 00:08:05.200 --> 00:08:07.200 the back patio smoking cigarettes. 115 00:08:08.520 --> 00:08:09.720 Yes, I thought from. 116 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:23.080 Salman and that's Catherine. 117 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:25.800 She's one of the only Hondurans living in this shelter 118 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:30.040 full of Cuban asylum seekers. She says they become like 119 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:33.400 a big family. They cook together and the other women 120 00:08:33.520 --> 00:08:36.000 help her with her two daughters, the ones who will 121 00:08:36.040 --> 00:08:39.840 be getting that hot cereal. Catherine says she feels safe 122 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.200 here in this shelter, but not at all in the city. 123 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:50.640 It's Theranicana. 124 00:08:57.040 --> 00:09:00.360 Catherine says. When they first arrived in Kwas, she happened 125 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.640 to see a lady crossing the street with her daughter. 126 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:07.319 Then a van stopped, people snatched her child and took off. 127 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:10.240 The woman was left in the middle of the street 128 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:18.680 screaming me. Catherine says she stopped sending her older daughter 129 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.440 to school. She doesn't want her kids out of her sight. 130 00:09:21.920 --> 00:09:25.840 She says they almost never go outside except to go 131 00:09:25.920 --> 00:09:34.040 to court. That is, in the years she's been at 132 00:09:34.040 --> 00:09:38.520 this shelter, Catherine has had six, yes, six hearings with 133 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.400 US immigration officials and still no decision on her claim 134 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.840 for asylum. What's keeping her and her family here in 135 00:09:45.880 --> 00:09:50.120 Mexico is the first brick in Trump's policy wall that 136 00:09:50.160 --> 00:09:54.000 we're going to talk about. It's something called Migrant Protection 137 00:09:54.280 --> 00:09:59.440 Protocols or MPP. You might have heard about it, and 138 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:04.040 it's also referred to as the Remain in Mexico policy 139 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.840 because that's exactly what it forces people to do. 140 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.840 Individuals arriving in or entering the United States from Mexico 141 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:18.320 illegally or without proper documentation, maybe returned to Mexico for 142 00:10:18.400 --> 00:10:22.080 the duration of their immigration proceedings. They will not be 143 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:24.680 able to disappear into the United States. 144 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:30.240 That's former DHS Secretary Kirsten Nielsen announcing the policy back 145 00:10:30.280 --> 00:10:33.679 in December of twenty eighteen. Since remaining in Mexico went 146 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:38.400 into effect, nearly sixty thousand asylum seekers arriving at the 147 00:10:38.520 --> 00:10:42.600 US border, people like Catherine, have been ordered to wait 148 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:46.080 in Mexico while a decision is made in the US 149 00:10:46.520 --> 00:10:50.880 on their asylum petitions. This is a radical departure from 150 00:10:50.880 --> 00:10:54.439 how things used to work. Asylum is a process that 151 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:57.800 can take years, and that's why in the past, asylum 152 00:10:57.880 --> 00:11:01.040 seekers were always allowed to wait safe in the US 153 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:06.080 for their hearings. Now asylum seekers like Catherine are stuck 154 00:11:06.400 --> 00:11:13.120 on the other side of the border. She shows me 155 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:17.520 her appointment letter from Customs and Border Protection Don delocin 156 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:18.480 is where are. 157 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:23.400 You keeping this? 158 00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:26.360 This piece of paper is the only proof that Catherine 159 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:29.920 has of her pending case. To make sure she never 160 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:32.880 loses it or that no one takes it, she says, 161 00:11:32.920 --> 00:11:35.720 she sleeps with it underneath her so you sleep with it. 162 00:11:38.920 --> 00:11:43.199 Part of the reason that Catherine and sixty thousand asylum seekers, 163 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:47.160 mostly Central Americans, have been ordered to wait in Mexico 164 00:11:47.800 --> 00:11:52.839 is a surprisingly cooperative relationship between President Trump and Mexico's 165 00:11:52.880 --> 00:11:57.319 President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, better known as AMLO. 166 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:09.520 In Amos Abricaraticos NOMANDLO. 167 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.760 In twenty eighteen, AMLO became Mexico's first leftist president in decades, 168 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:18.960 and at first, migrant advocates had high expectations. 169 00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:24.240 Mexico's leftist presidential candidate, Andre Es Manuel Lopez Operador is 170 00:12:24.280 --> 00:12:27.400 in New York to show solidarity with his fellow countrymen 171 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:31.199 living in the city. He claims the Trump administration's immigration 172 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:33.679 crackdown is a violation of human rights. 173 00:12:34.920 --> 00:12:38.160 It seemed like AMLO was really going to change things 174 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:41.520 right away. He created this fund to address root causes 175 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:46.120 of migration from Central America. He pledged thirty billion dollars 176 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.680 over the next five years. But then some began to 177 00:12:49.800 --> 00:12:53.520 question how many of the progressive policies he talked about 178 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.320 could really be achieved. Then in the summer of last year, 179 00:12:58.800 --> 00:13:00.560 AMLO was put to the test. 180 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.920 So President Trump is increasing pressure on Mexico, demanding the 181 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:09.400 country does something to stop undocumented immigrants from crossing the border. Overnight, 182 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.400 President Trump tweeted the United States will impose tariffs on 183 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.679 Mexico until the flow of migrants stops. 184 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:20.480 At first, AMLA refused, but as pressure intensified and with 185 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.840 Mexico's economy under threat, he had a surprising change of heart. 186 00:13:25.880 --> 00:13:28.679 After ten days of threats from President Trump to levy 187 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.880 tariffs on Mexican products, mister Trump announced Friday night that 188 00:13:31.920 --> 00:13:33.120 he had struck a deal. 189 00:13:33.880 --> 00:13:37.359 The deal was to work with Trump on immigration enforcement. 190 00:13:37.920 --> 00:13:41.440 AMLO agreed to a plan to greatly expand MPP the 191 00:13:41.520 --> 00:13:45.480 remain in Mexico policy, and to begin using Mexico's newly 192 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:49.719 minted National Guard to patrol the border and detain migrants. 193 00:13:50.040 --> 00:13:52.199 It had been sold to the public as a force 194 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:59.800 that would deal with crime and corruption issues. By September 195 00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:04.080 of twenty nineteen, Mexico announced it had reduced migrant movement 196 00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:08.240 north towards the US border by fifty percent. And this 197 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:11.680 collaboration between the US and Mexico has led to a 198 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:15.960 situation that has put asylum seekers lives on the line. 199 00:14:19.880 --> 00:15:07.680 That's coming up. Stay with us, not by yes. Welcome 200 00:15:07.680 --> 00:15:11.120 back to Latino, USA. I'm Maria j Josan. Let's return 201 00:15:11.160 --> 00:15:13.880 to part one of The Moving Border, our award winning 202 00:15:13.920 --> 00:15:17.440 series from twenty twenty let's see what's at the port 203 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:21.560 of entry by the border. I'm waiting for attorney Linda 204 00:15:21.760 --> 00:15:23.240 Rivas Hi. 205 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:25.360 Hi. 206 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:27.120 Linda Maria me too. 207 00:15:27.920 --> 00:15:31.800 I'm the executive director at Las America's Immigrant Advocacy Center 208 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:35.800 and we're a thirty two year old legal nonprofit in 209 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.960 I'll Pass to Texas and as of the Remain in 210 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:42.880 Mexico program starting, a lot of our work is now 211 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:44.760 on this side of the border into da Quadas. 212 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.400 Linda takes me to see another piece of Trump's policy 213 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.360 wall in action. Where are we described where we are? 214 00:15:53.160 --> 00:15:56.520 You crossed the bridge and you just turn the corner 215 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:58.240 and it's kind of hidden in here. 216 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:02.920 And it's called the GAEME, which is the Center for 217 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:07.520 Comprehensive Migrant Services, is a state run agency that acts 218 00:16:07.560 --> 00:16:10.840 as a processing center of sorts for migrants in what 219 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:14.760 is now Its goal is to provide a one stop 220 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:18.000 shop where migrants can apply for social services, where they 221 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:19.239 can get legal assistance. 222 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:25.040 And also this is also where people are being metered. 223 00:16:27.400 --> 00:16:30.760 Metering is another way the US and Mexican governments are 224 00:16:30.800 --> 00:16:34.960 collaborating on border policy, even if it's a little unofficial. 225 00:16:35.880 --> 00:16:39.880 So what metering means simply is that US officials have 226 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:43.840 been arbitrarily limiting the number of people who are allowed 227 00:16:43.880 --> 00:16:46.560 to present themselves at the border each day to ask 228 00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:47.360 for asylum. 229 00:16:47.520 --> 00:16:49.680 They're not letting them physically step foot into the United 230 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:51.560 States to legally seek asylum. 231 00:16:51.760 --> 00:16:53.520 They're saying we're full, go away. 232 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.440 And when they say we're full, go away, they're Suddenly 233 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:01.280 a system emerged that was like, okay, taking thirty people today, 234 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:04.080 we're taking ten people today. We're taking no one today. 235 00:17:04.600 --> 00:17:07.840 Once the US started taking fewer people, it caused a 236 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.200 huge backlog of migrants waiting in Mexico to ask for asylum, 237 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:18.119 and that's when the list began. It started as a 238 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.640 kind of makeshift list in a migrants notebook well over 239 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:24.600 a year ago, with new people arriving every day. It 240 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:27.600 kept track of who was here first and whose turn 241 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:29.359 it would be to go to the border and speak 242 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.399 to a US officer to present their claim. It was 243 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:35.480 the way migrants could take some control of the situation 244 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.600 and keep some order while they waited. Eventually, in what 245 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:44.680 is this government office took charge of the list. 246 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:50.720 CBP receive alis persona's o ying nos camlos and illumero 247 00:17:51.560 --> 00:17:54.760 yesinoento bentiocho. 248 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:58.720 CBP we'll see ten people today, number nineteen four hundred 249 00:17:58.760 --> 00:18:01.919 and twenty eight. A Mexican official calls this out to 250 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.000 a large room. 251 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.080 Qua quatrocento treenta. 252 00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:11.000 The person holding the number approaches the official to say 253 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:11.520 that they're. 254 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:19.240 Here, pat you know, quatroc quadraqua. 255 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:34.240 An official later tells me that at its highest point, 256 00:18:34.520 --> 00:18:37.400 there are over six thousand people on the list at 257 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:41.000 once waiting for their number to be called. Right now 258 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.919 there are just two hundred names of people waiting on 259 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:47.520 the list. It's another sign that the policy wall is 260 00:18:47.600 --> 00:18:50.920 doing the job it was meant to do. And even 261 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:55.399 though we saw it happening ourselves, Mexican officials won't admit 262 00:18:55.520 --> 00:18:59.159 on the record that they're managing the list. They know 263 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.240 that work with the US on this would be controversial. 264 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.679 And so this has been a pretty unofficial cooperation between 265 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.880 the two governments to what the United States is trying 266 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:16.120 to control the flow with. I believe no. 267 00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:25.760 Justification, Riva says. Metering and the Remain in Mexico policy 268 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:30.280 work hand in hand. Metering keeps asylum seekers in Mexico 269 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.040 waiting for their number to be called, and once it 270 00:19:33.080 --> 00:19:37.600 finally is the remain in Mexico policy then draws out 271 00:19:37.800 --> 00:19:43.679 that weight. The problem is the US has exported a 272 00:19:43.800 --> 00:19:49.119 key responsibility for dealing with highly vulnerable refugees their immediate 273 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:53.440 safety and protection. Mexico is left to figure it out, 274 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:58.119 and they have no requirement to prove anything is being done. 275 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:03.160 What Mexico has done is this, migrants on MPP are 276 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:06.240 now given a document which protects them from being deported 277 00:20:06.280 --> 00:20:09.960 from Mexico while their case is pending. If they want 278 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.080 to work legally in Mexico while they're waiting or access healthcare, 279 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.000 they have to request something called a group, which is 280 00:20:16.040 --> 00:20:19.320 basically like a temporary Social Security number, but it only 281 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:23.000 lasts six months. And whether they can get this document 282 00:20:23.080 --> 00:20:26.119 in every border city or if it can be renewed, 283 00:20:26.760 --> 00:20:28.160 depends on who you ask. 284 00:20:29.520 --> 00:20:32.320 I think that reflects the fact that on paper things 285 00:20:32.320 --> 00:20:33.880 are one way, and then in practice. 286 00:20:33.560 --> 00:20:37.000 It's another's that's Maureen Mayor. She's an advocate at the 287 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:40.920 Washington Office on Latin America. She says Mexico is getting 288 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:45.000 by providing the bare minimum for those waiting under MPP. 289 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:50.440 The Mexican government really promised originally to look at opportunities 290 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:53.959 for employment and other services. We really haven't seen that 291 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.119 pan out at the border or elsewhere. 292 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:01.639 In Quitas, Mexico's government has what they think is attempting 293 00:21:01.760 --> 00:21:04.600 offer for those who have been forced to remain in 294 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.280 the north of Mexico and fear the high levels of 295 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:10.960 crime here. They're offering a free bus ride to the 296 00:21:11.080 --> 00:21:13.680 south of Mexico while they weigh out their process. 297 00:21:14.080 --> 00:21:16.959 So one way ticket, you have to figure out on 298 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:19.600 your own how to get the funds to bust yourself 299 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.760 back up to the border. And obviously that poses the 300 00:21:22.840 --> 00:21:25.560 question to what happens if your hearing date changes. So 301 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:29.120 it's I think it's for the most part a program 302 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:32.080 that the mexicanum adopted to try to get people out 303 00:21:32.119 --> 00:21:34.720 of the northern border. But if they're really concerned about 304 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.400 supporting this population, you wouldn't send them all the way 305 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:38.680 back to southern Mexico. 306 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:42.920 This is an instance where Mexico isn't just a passive 307 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:47.560 bystander to a US policy that pushes asylum seekers away 308 00:21:47.640 --> 00:21:51.800 from the US border. This is one that Mexico has created. 309 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.359 Meyer thinks the point of the bussing program ultimately is 310 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.960 to convince people to just give up on their asylum claims. 311 00:22:00.320 --> 00:22:03.200 Maybe if we can make it so uncomfortable and unbearable 312 00:22:03.280 --> 00:22:04.600 to stay there, people just go home. 313 00:22:05.080 --> 00:22:08.359 But for those who still decide to stay, the end 314 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:11.600 result of this policy wall we've been talking about is 315 00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:14.879 that asylum seekers are stuck on the border for long 316 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:19.560 periods of time, living in shelters in an ambiguous legal status, 317 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:23.440 and that adds up to a situation that puts them 318 00:22:23.720 --> 00:22:35.240 at risk. Which leads me to the story of M 319 00:22:35.600 --> 00:22:39.040 and her seven year old daughter A. We're referring to 320 00:22:39.080 --> 00:22:43.399 them by their first initials for their protection. Linda introduces 321 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.760 me to them at the migrant center, and later I'm 322 00:22:46.800 --> 00:22:49.879 invited to visit M at the house where she's staying 323 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:59.800 to hear their story in a little bit more privacy, 324 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.399 living with an employee from the shelter, and in return 325 00:23:03.520 --> 00:23:06.399 for a bedroom that she shares with her daughter, she 326 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:09.760 has to clean the house and keep things tidy. Em 327 00:23:09.840 --> 00:23:12.800 says she traveled with her daughter as well as her 328 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.479 husband and young son from Monduras. Somewhere along the way, 329 00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:19.679 they were split up and Em continued north with her 330 00:23:19.800 --> 00:23:23.520 daughter alone. Then she tells me they were kidnapped just 331 00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:25.679 hours after they arrived in what is. 332 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:38.080 Yea in Mediunayama. 333 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:47.600 Em says she was sitting at a bus stop with 334 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.119 her daughter on the outskirts of the city, trying to 335 00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:53.879 get downtown. It was dusk and by now it was cold. 336 00:23:54.560 --> 00:23:57.679 They didn't have coats, which is the easiest way to 337 00:23:57.800 --> 00:24:01.240 spot new arrivals to what is during the winter months. 338 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:05.080 Em says that a man sat down on the bench 339 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:08.640 next to her and asked where she was heading. Then 340 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:10.639 he got up and made a phone call, and a 341 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:14.880 few minutes later, a truck pulls up, a man gets out. 342 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:19.240 He flashes a gun and tells her to get in 343 00:24:19.320 --> 00:24:22.879 with her daughter. Em says that they were taken to 344 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:26.560 a warehouse where ten other migrants were being held. She 345 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.760 says the kidnappers contacted their families for ransom money. Em 346 00:24:30.840 --> 00:24:34.240 says when the kidnappers would take people out of the warehouse, 347 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:48.920 they never came back. M one day they came for her, 348 00:24:49.320 --> 00:24:51.960 crammed her and her daughter, a and a few others 349 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:54.719 into the backseat of a car. She says, when they 350 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:57.040 got caught in traffic for a moment, she knew it 351 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:00.160 was now or never, since no ransom had been paid. 352 00:25:00.760 --> 00:25:03.320 She managed to push open the car door and run 353 00:25:03.320 --> 00:25:06.560 away with her daughter. The mom tells me that a 354 00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:10.360 good Samaritan takes them to a shelter. It was so 355 00:25:10.600 --> 00:25:14.480 packed there weren't enough beds or blankets, so mother and 356 00:25:14.600 --> 00:25:17.600 daughter were forced to sleep on the floor in a 357 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:19.400 room full of strangers. 358 00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:29.120 Muchahinte mucha hendekovi hasna vie suficientropa. 359 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:34.240 And then one night at the shelter, something horrible happened. 360 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:39.080 Em says her young daughter woke up next to her naked, 361 00:25:39.760 --> 00:25:43.560 and she believes her daughter was sexually assaulted. She took 362 00:25:43.600 --> 00:25:45.879 her daughter to the doctor and tried to report this 363 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:49.080 to the police, but she says when they saw her 364 00:25:49.320 --> 00:25:53.080 enduran i d they refused to take down a report. 365 00:25:53.560 --> 00:25:57.320 Em says this entire thing has been eating away at 366 00:25:57.320 --> 00:25:58.240 her ever since. 367 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:19.399 Cisolo Misonoki mah who knew ka Mi Si who's ikas. 368 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:24.240 M says she feels guilty. After all, she left Hodudas 369 00:26:24.280 --> 00:26:27.520 to protect her kids and give them an education. She 370 00:26:27.600 --> 00:26:29.800 says she had no way to know everything that they'd 371 00:26:29.840 --> 00:26:33.240 go through, and still after all of this, they haven't 372 00:26:33.280 --> 00:26:36.640 even been able to get into the United States, even 373 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:39.680 though the Remain in Mexico policy is supposed to make 374 00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:43.320 an exception for migrants who are in very vulnerable positions. 375 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.760 M and her daughter, twice victims of crime in Mexico, 376 00:26:48.040 --> 00:26:51.400 were told that they must remain in Mexico for however 377 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:55.399 long it takes for the United States to decide their case. 378 00:27:01.520 --> 00:27:04.760 In the beginning, when Linda Rivas, the lawyer, first started 379 00:27:04.800 --> 00:27:08.480 representing them, they were hopeful. But now the mom says 380 00:27:08.520 --> 00:27:11.400 after her last hearing, she doesn't know what to think anymore. 381 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:15.560 The judge, she says, seemed like he didn't even care 382 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:21.879 to hear what had happened to them. And A, even 383 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.959 though she's only seven years old, she's picking up on 384 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:26.960 all of it. 385 00:27:28.600 --> 00:27:34.840 Said Mommy, joy no devas and mentira yelo de Miraira. 386 00:27:35.520 --> 00:27:38.000 The little girl tells her mom now that it's all 387 00:27:38.080 --> 00:27:40.960 a lie, that the United States will never let them in. 388 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:44.560 She's clearly been affected by everything that they've gone through. 389 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.000 Her mom says that now her daughter rarely sleeps through 390 00:27:48.080 --> 00:27:57.760 the night. As I was leaving, I decided to give 391 00:27:58.320 --> 00:28:01.320 this little girl a b did prayer bracelet that I 392 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:05.119 was wearing. I tell her that she can count the 393 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:08.720 beads at night when she can't sleep, just the way 394 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:28.520 that I do. Juan luezo and then all of a sudden, 395 00:28:28.800 --> 00:28:32.320 the little girl grabs her long hair, covers her face 396 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:35.200 with it, and she starts telling me that she's always 397 00:28:35.320 --> 00:28:38.520 dreaming about her mom being kidnapped again. That's why she 398 00:28:38.600 --> 00:28:40.600 wakes up crying in the middle of the night. 399 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:49.200 M Le. 400 00:28:51.560 --> 00:28:56.920 Mohammada. We didn't eat, she says. Then she tells me 401 00:28:57.040 --> 00:28:59.840