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Catholic Charities attorneys get a close-up view of desperation at the border

Diana Sims Snider | Special to the Catholic Herald

Catholic Charities attorney Ashley LaRiccia works with people seeking asylum in the United States during her visit to the Mexican border. COURTESY

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Two Catholic Charities attorneys have returned from a week at the
U.S. border between Nogales, Mexico, and Nogales, Arizona, with a deeper
understanding of the journey facing migrants headed north to U.S. ports of
entry in search of asylum.

Ashley LaRiccia and Tyler Lloyd, who work in the Hogar Immigrant
Legal Services office in Alexandria, spent five days along the border and in
Tucson, Az., conducting immigration
screenings and asylum orientations to individuals and families. 

The lawyers scheduled their October trip following an appeal by
the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. CLINIC called on Catholic Charities and
other agencies to send attorneys to provide migrants something they were
unlikely to have otherwise: legal advice for navigating the complex immigration
system and gaining permission to reside in the U.S.

CLINIC reimbursed agencies for the attorneys’ time and travel.
The decision to grant admission to migrants rests with border authorities. 

LaRiccia and Lloyd worked alongside the Kino Border Initiative,
which provides humanitarian assistance to migrants. Kino was established by the California Province of
the Society of Jesus, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, the Missionary Sisters of the
Eucharist, the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus, the Diocese of Tucson
and the Diocese of Nogales.

Many migrants were
waiting in Mexico to request entry to the U.S. and apply for asylum. A U.S.
immigration judge will grant a migrant asylum if it is established that he or
she suffered persecution or has a well-founded fear of persecution, based on a
protected ground established by the United Nations and enshrined in U.S. law.

These migrant men, women and children who, after being victims of
targeted violence, travel for days or weeks to get to the border, the attorneys
said. At the border they wait in shelters or on the streets for several more
days or weeks for the opportunity to request admission to the U.S. to apply for
asylum. 

“Everyone there was doing things legally. They were waiting to
present themselves to U.S. authorities at a port of entry,” said Lloyd.

The attorneys interviewed migrants from Mexico, Honduras,
Guatemala and Venezuela who had traveled to Nogales at great expense and
personal danger. “It’s not cheap to get to the United States, especially for
individuals who may not have had many resources to start with,” Lloyd said.
“But far greater than the monetary cost is the physical and emotional cost of
making this journey.”

LaRiccia interviewed migrants who may have cause for asylum but
didn’t understand the legal process for being granted that status. 

Migrants seeking asylum must undergo a “credible fear” interview.
If they pass this interview, they will have the opportunity to apply for asylum
within the context of deportation proceedings before an immigration judge. Some
migrants will be required to remain in immigration detention centers throughout
the asylum process. Others will be released on the condition they appear for
their immigration court dates. 

Migrants may hire an attorney to represent them and help them
apply for asylum, but one is not provided for them. Catholic Charities attempts
to fill that gap by providing legal representation. Migrants who appear without
attorneys are significantly less likely to be granted asylum. Those who are
released to small towns without nonprofit or pro bono attorneys face an even more difficult time, as do migrants
forced to apply for asylum while detained, Lloyd said. Ultimately, if their
asylum claim is denied, they are deported.

LaRiccia said the primary motivation for migrants seemed to be
their family’s safety. “Everyone we met with was willing to sacrifice
everything for their children,” she said. 

LaRiccia told of a Central American grandmother and her
granddaughter seeking asylum. “I’m leaving my home because I’m afraid of the
violence,” the grandmother told her.

But that response does not fit the criteria for asylum status,
LaRiccia said. As she probed the grandmother further, LaRiccia learned the
woman’s pregnant daughter had been murdered by a drug cartel. Her granddaughter
also had been shot, she told LaRiccia, and she showed LaRiccia the multiple
wounds on the little girl’s body. After the brutal murder, the grandmother
reported the incident to police who were unwilling or unable to assist. Because
of the long arm of the cartel, the grandmother had nowhere to find shelter in
her home country. 

Once she knew the details of the woman’s story, LaRiccia was able
to help the grandmother understand her claim in the context of asylum law. 

But they couldn’t help everyone.

“We had to tell many people that there was only so much we could
do there in Mexico,” Lloyd said. “The process of crossing back into the U.S.
and leaving those people behind was really hard.”

In Nogales, the pair also witnessed the Catholic Church in
action. The Missionary Sisters of
the Eucharist and volunteers provide meals, distribute clothing and offer
medical assistance to migrants and recent deportees. They run a shelter for
women and children waiting to cross the border. Kino also provides
education, research and advocacy related to migration.

“If it were not for the
Catholic Church and the Kino Border Institute these migrants would be left
completely on their own,” LaRiccia said. “(The sisters) live day in day out
feeding these people and it seems like with each group they come in to meet,
they treat them with the same exact level of kindness.”

 

Find out more

 

Go to kinoborderinitiative.org/

 

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