He is not more vulnerable than thousands of other Tijuana residents who are waiting to be granted humanitarian protection in the United States. It was a surprise to him to receive a call from the United States confirming that he and his family had been selected to apply for asylum.
Before a border agent shouted his name, the Honduran 30-year-old said "God opened the doors" before the officer reacted. Membreno, his wife, and son pushed a heavy suitcase through concrete barriers with barbed wire to get into the U.S.
His confusion is a sign of an opaque, if temporary, system that the Biden administration has set up. It entrusts immigration advocates with selecting which migrants will be granted a limited number slots to enter the U.S. to seek asylum.
Trump's order to quickly expel people from the country has been kept in place by President Joe Biden. This was to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Biden allowed children to travel alone within a few hours of his arrival in office. However, the Trump administration is now quietly allowing more families and single people to bypass the ban. In federal court Tuesday, a Justice Department attorney stated that a new order dealing in children was being made. He did not elaborate.
There is no published list of advocacy organizations that decide who is eligible to claim asylum. Nor is there any explanation as to how they select people. Migrants often learn by word-of-mouth. The U.S. authorities make final decisions about asylum. They don't reveal their criteria or give details on how many people they admit to the country.
A group of advocates used to send psychologists tent-to-tent in Tijuana, a Tijuana camp that houses approximately 2,000 migrants, to identify the families most at risk. The cards were laminated and numbered to allow them to be placed in a waiting list for asylum. When it was discovered that profiteers were selling cards for $500-1,000 each, the coalition stopped issuing cards.
Many advocates are uneasy about the unusual assignment. Soraya Vazquez is the deputy director of Al Otro Lado’s Tijuana office. She calls it "the best option" and notes that her group has facilitated entry for around 2,000 people since early July.
Vazquez stated, "This is not fair." His group collected 13,000 online questions in July asking people about their immigration history, medical issues, and safety concerns living in Mexico.
Advocates claim that U.S. officials have given some guidance on how to classify cases as urgent. However, the exact criteria are not public. These include severe medical conditions, imminent danger, LGBTQ, and single mothers with young children. Many of the people chosen do not fall within these categories.
Volunteer attorney Ian Seruelo from San Diego conducted interviews with about 20 asylum-seekers who were staying at Tijuana's camp. He was able to get an appointment at Border Line Crisis Center as part of a network that includes advocacy groups. Although the network searched for vulnerable persons at the camp, they shifted to refuges in an effort to dispel the belief that those with the most chance of being picked are at the more dangerous and unsanitary camps.
Advocates who visited the camp were aggressively followed by migrants, asking Seruelo why he was helping them. There were many accusations of racism against the migrants who came from a mixture of Black and Latino immigrants. According to the attorney, he feels "put into a corner" when it comes to deciding who enters the U.S.
Seruelo spends approximately 10 minutes with each person, in a cubicle. He focuses his questions on Tijuana's living conditions. The reasons they fled their homelands are left to a U.S. immigration judge.
Silvia Portillo (34), sat down with an infant and explained to him that she had suffered a difficult pregnancy. She also mentioned that a knife-wielding male threatened to set fire to her tent and demanded money.
Portillo said, "I don't feel safe, but it's necessary," she added. Portillo arrived in Honduras in a caravan in 2018, married a Mexican man, and has been living in the camp since February, as she can not afford rent.
Manuel Antonio Segovia from El Salvador claims he is a volunteer security guard at the camp where criminals extort migrants and have punched him in his stomach and chest. Roberto Mejia from Guatemala claims that a man pulled out a gun on him, and told him to leave.
The selected migrants are tested for COVID-19, and are usually released to the United States where a judge will decide on their asylum request.
The American Civil Liberties Union acts as an intermediary, forwarding requests from Tijuana advocacy groups and other border areas for up to 35 families per day since March. In May, the ACLU stated that approximately 2,000 people had been admitted as a result of a settlement it had filed against the government. Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney, stated that the Biden administration will not allow any more recent numbers to be released.
Advocacy groups have also been accepting up to 250 asylum-seekers per day in other places, including San Diego. According to the International Rescue Committee, 540 people were arranged for entry by HIAS.
The U.S. The U.S. Homeland Security Department did not respond to specific questions, but stated in a statement last Month that the exemptions were intended to "identify and lawfully process particularly vulnerable individuals who warrant humanitarian exceptions."
Nelson Hernandez, 33, from El Salvador thought he might have his 4-year old daughter or his elderly mother-in law to thank for his family's selection from Tijuana camp. But he's not certain.
He said, "God wanted it," before a border official called him name and he set foot onto U.S. soil. The family was heading to McAllen, Texas.
Membreno believes he was chosen for this job because he accompanied advocates for hours while they visited the camp. He was released at San Diego within hours and plans to go to North Carolina with his family.
