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“He crossed a couple of women and said they were not going to wait in Mexico, so why not us too?” she asked. The woman said she recently heard about Democratic presidential candidateĬory Booker escorting several asylum seekers across the international bridge in El Paso. She fled her home country because a professor back home was extorting her and a police officer would threaten her about four times a week. “They are willingly and choosing to violate their legal and human rights to seek asylum.”Ī Cuban woman who identified as lesbian was among the group who was recently returned. It’s a willing and conscious choice that they’re making that they know that this entire group of people, LGBTQ or not, all the hundreds of people here are vulnerable,” said Marrero Hi. “At this point it just feels that there’s no way CBP to not know that. Customs and Border Protection needs to hear to finally understand that these migrants are vulnerable because they must remain in Mexico. for review but were sent back to Mexico, even though MPP said vulnerable populations may be excluded on a case by case basis.Īsylum seeker Keidy bathes her daughter Naomi, 6, in the Rio Grande near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros.

Marrero Hi said the migrants were admitted into the U.S. The Texas Civil Rights Project recently worked with other Texas and Chicago based organizations to try to get six LGBTQ asylum seekers admitted into the U.S. “You see these official documents, and they say, ‘Here are the steps to do X’ and then you take those steps, you follow the process and nothing happens.” government and it’s not because of some conspiracy, it’s because of this reality that you see this policy,” Marrero Hi said. They didn’t trust the journey, but they made it anyways, and now that they’re here they don’t trust the Mexican government, they don’t trust the U.S.

“They didn’t trust that their home country could keep them safe. She said all asylum seekers are vulnerable while waiting in Mexico, but there’s an added layer of danger for LGBTQ migrants. She works at the Rio Grande Valley office. Texas Civil Rights Project, a statewide nonprofit alliance of lawyers who serve Texas communities. She said she also faced discrimination and transphobia from other migrants and governments on both sides of the Rio Grande. “They see me as a point of prostitution.” “I was at the edge of the river taking a bath, and then a truck showed up and offered me money to go work at a show bar, and he wanted me to go with him to see where he wanted me to work,” she said. That time she was told to wait in Mexico because the Remain in Mexico program, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP, was in effect.Īsylum seekers near the Rio Grande close to the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros.ĭuring her wait, she faced several problems. But she was deported, and so she tried again. That second time, they made it to the U.S. They returned home but then they tried again. She said they were able to escape one night when the men got drunk. I also knew my friend was being raped because of her screams.” “I was kidnapped in Mexico with a gun to my head. “This man had informed someone that he had picked up two people, but he didn’t know we were trans,” the Salvadoran woman said. They promised to support her until she got to the U.S.-Mexico border, and she left with another trans woman.īut they ran into problems when they arrived at Mexico’s southern border and got into a taxi. Her family at one point said she had to leave. She said she left her home country several years ago because gangs constantly extorted her, and she feared for her life. The women were all LGBTQ asylum seekers who were sent back to Mexico to wait for their day in immigration court in the U.S. If I don’t have something they’ll give me and if they don’t have something, I’ll give them some.” We share the same blood and the same experiences.

“They saw that I was sleeping outside on the floor. “It was like finding my family outside of my country. They met as strangers but over the past few weeks, they grew close. In Matamoros, a 25-year-old Salvadoran woman in a black dress with white polka dots sat with a group of women. The program says vulnerable populations may be excluded from the program, but many migrants who are considered vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ asylum seekers, are still being sent back to Mexico. This is part of the Trump administration’s More than 30,000 asylum seeking migrants have been returned to Mexico to await their day in immigration court - a process that can take months.