Crimes Against Humanity at the United States Border with Mexico
The wall at San Diego
The details of the miserable conditions and injustices that asylum seekers are suffering at the United States border with Mexico is generally known, but many of the details are not. A friend, Ramona, and others from the Progressive Labor Party recently went to the San Diego/Tijuana crossing to provide legal and social aid. The details of their advocacy has helped in the understanding of the crimes against humanity by the American government.
Most of the asylum seekers are from Central America and Mexico. The American government’s threat of sanctions against their countries of origin has only increased the incentive of asylum seeker to move to relatively safer United States. Surprisingly there were Haitians, Yemenis, Russians, Somalis, Iraqis, Brazilians, and more nationalities.
At the border crossing is a plaza, El Chaparral, to which scores of asylum seekers go every day. They wait there to get a number on the “List” or wait in the hope that their number would be called from the List. In December of 2018 the American government closed down the List and some who had gained entry to the United States were deported without standing.
From the scores of people who gathered daily in El Chaparral, only 40 would be processed each day. In frustration many asylum seeker give up and self deport.
Given the miserable conditions in the countries of origin self- deportation is a choice of almost certain death. The asylum seekers on the Mexican side of the border are kept in camps and live and sleep outdoors. Their clothing is not suited for the sometime cold nights of Norther Mexico. This is especially true for the youngest children and the elderly.
Both girls and boys are preyed upon by human trafficker and sexual predators. Boys are targeted by the American Border patrol and arrested immediately and deported right away even when in the United States.
The miserable conditions improve only slightly for the people whose numbers are called and get processed. These people are sent to a facility called “The ICEbox”. Their outer clothing is confiscated and aluminum blankets are issued. The blankets are not suitable given the temperature. The ICEbox lacks proper sanitary appliances, privacy, and food.
When people are released from the ICEbox, the American government ships them to concentration like camps that could be anywhere in the United States. These camps aka ICE detention center jail people until their cases are heard. This may take years. It is at these camps that the children of asylum seekers are separated from their parents.
Some people unable to either get into the United States and unable to return to their country of origin have applied for “humanitarian “visa from Mexico. This allows them to work up to one year in Mexico. These visa adversely affect the asylum seeking status of the refugees. The Mexican government tells the refugees that legal help costs up $5,000 and that they are better off taking the visas.
Once the visas are taken the asylum seeker become the most exploited workers in Mexico, selling themselves as day laborers.
Like the American government the Mexican government is creating conditions to make asylum seekers self deport. It has ordered recently the evacuation of the Benito Juarez Shelter. The government sent in its riot police to blockade food and supplies from going to the shelter, when the people refused to be evacuated.
My friend, Ramona, worked at Enclave in Tijuana. There she and many other American volunteers provided legal help, food, childcare, and medical support. While there Ramona said around 1500 asylum seeking people were helped. She said that she and other volunteers stay overnight in San Diego and travelled to Tijuana in the morning.
Sometimes the volunteer were hassled. Ramona recalled the time she was delayed because her passport had been stamped in an African country. A border patrol agent wanted to know why she was there. Ironically the Border Patrol agent was an immigrant from Uganda.
Some of the significant groups helping asylum seekers are World Central Kitchens, Food Not Bombs, and Pueblo sin Frontera.
There are organizations of deported people including DACA Moms whose children are still in the United States. They stay near the border so that they can sometime see their children. Another group is Deported Veterans, US military troopers who have been deported.
Recently the Head of the American Homeland Security Nielson had resigned. Given the crimes against humanity going on at the United States border, it would not be a surprise if she had done so to stay one step ahead of the International Criminal Court.
