Our report this month covers threats to the U.S. asylum system—directing asylum officers to reject applicants wishing to enter the country and denying bond to eligible asylum seekers in detention—and environmental factors that help explain growing migration from Central America. Concerns of Asylum Officers: U.S. asylum officers are starting to speak up—at their union meetings and to media—about their coercive work atmosphere under the Trump administration and its recently instituted … [Read more...]
KBI Media Report: March-April 2019
Our report this month covers the conditions that drive Central American migration; due process concerns in a Texas immigration court; a halt to the U.S. policy of requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico as their claims are processed; and the KBI’s new migrant center, now under construction and designed for expanded services and programming. Reasons for Migration: For the past five years, photographer Fred Ramos has documented the political, social, and environmental conditions that … [Read more...]
KBI Media Report: February-March 2019
This month’s report covers disturbing immigration trends under the current U.S. administration—diverted resources from investigations of serious crimes at the border and the rise in miscarriages among detained expectant mothers—as well as the new Mexican policy to cooperate with U.S. efforts to keep asylum seekers in Mexico as they wait for their cases to be processed. Human Smuggling Proliferates: Despite paying lip service to concerns about border security and the dangers of human … [Read more...]
KBI Media Report: December 2018-January 2019
KBI Media Report: December 2018–January 2019 Our media report this month is one that reveals the far-reaching impact of U.S. immigration policies on migrant families, in the U.S. and in their countries of origin, as they cope with the traumatic aftermath of extended detention, court delays, and most tragically, the death of a child. Family Separation Update: As immigrant children, forcibly taken from their parents at the U.S.–Mexico border last year, are reunited with their parents, the … [Read more...]
KBI Media Report: November-December 2018
Our stories this month focus on asylum processing delays at the border; the life-threatening dangers frequently faced by deported asylum seekers; and the outcome of the most recent trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with killing a Mexican youth. Asylum Seekers at the Border: At the U.S.–Mexico border, the Trump administration is limiting the number of people who can present themselves for asylum at ports of entry each day, a process called “metering.” This approach, used in the … [Read more...]