See, if Trump hadn’t blocked all these mostly male age 45 and under looking for work and not seeking asylum women and children from being allowed entry into the U.S. there wouldn’t be any violence at the border, per Voxsplainer Dara Lind
The US has made migrants at the border wait months to apply for asylum. Now the dam is breaking.
By limiting the number of asylum-seekers allowed to come legally, Trump made his own immigration crisis.
The center of the American asylum crisis is the El Chaparral plaza in Tijuana, which sits at the foot of the western pedestrian bridge to enter the US at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in California.
On Sunday, members of the migrant “caravan,†after a week of waiting in makeshift Tijuana shelters under poor conditions, marched up to the US side of the border to demand that the US admit them to seek asylum.
At the plaza at El Chaparral, Mexican federal police in riot formation blocked the marchers from going any farther toward the bridge. Then the march descended into chaos. Hundreds of marchers evaded and scuffled with Mexican police in an attempt to cross the border en masse. Some of the marchers threw rocks at Border Patrol agents. Agents fired off volleys of tear gas at the crowd, which included families and children.
It was nearly inevitable that tensions at the border would boil over, and that they would do so at El Chaparral. For months, it has been the unofficial “waiting room†of the United States.
At San Ysidro and many of the other official crossings that line the US-Mexico border, families who have traveled thousands of miles, fleeing poverty and violence to seek asylum in the United States, have been stopped outside ports of entry before they can set foot on US soil and trigger their legal asylum rights.
Before 2016, and in some cases as recently as six months ago, they would have had no problem and no delay. But for the last several months, the Trump administration has made a practice of limiting the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the US each day — a policy it calls “metering.†It’s the counterpart of the Trump administration’s months-long crackdown on asylum seekers entering the US illegally — telling those who do try to come legally that there’s no room for them, and ordering them to wait.
See? It is All Trump’s Fault. If only he had spent the primaries and general election saying he would be tough on illegal immigration. If only he had spent all that time saying he wanted a full physical barrier across the US-Mexico border. If only he had said the same after he was elected. If only he had cracked down on those unlawfully present in the U.S. If only he had said months and months ago and repeated it ad nauseum for the migrant caravans to not come.
None of these migrants were invited. Most are men. Mexico offered them asylum…and shelter, medical attention, schooling, and jobs. We have no idea how many are criminals. If they want asylum, they can make the claim at a port of entry, and, if approved, they’ll be allowed to enter. But most do not want asylum. But, you know that in Liberal World everything is Trump’s Fault.
Oh, and
News is filled with pictures of migrants at US-Mexico border. Why haven't they been able to enter the United States? Because a physical barrier prevents them from doing so. Any lesson there? https://t.co/devxhY3zdi
— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 27, 2018
