{"id":309545,"date":"2023-08-07T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=309545"},"modified":"2023-08-04T15:57:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T22:57:28","slug":"asylum-seekers-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_ko\/california-divide\/2023\/08\/asylum-seekers-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting game: Asylum seekers at California border at more risk during court fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Biden administration\u2019s app rule makes it harder for migrants to assert a right to asylum, advocates say. Lawsuits are sparking debate about immigration control, safety.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n

TIJUANA – Mar\u00eda Guadalupe Cruz has been trying every day since January to get on the Biden administration\u2019s electronic waitlist, so she could seek asylum in the United States for her and her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 32-year-old mother left Honduras in 2021 with her husband and two children after local gangs tried charging a \u201cwar tax\u201d on her home that she couldn\u2019t pay, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organized criminal gangs fighting for territory near San Pedro Sula, the northern city where Cruz\u2019s family lived, have progressed from extorting protection money from businesses to collecting it from households, she said.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told them I couldn\u2019t pay, so they gave me 24 hours to abandon the country,\u201d she recently told CalMatters, at the Tijuana shelter where her family lives in a tent. \u201cAnd they said if we ever came back, they\u2019d kill us all.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Migrants
Migrants wait in line to receive toiletry items at Moviemiento Juventud 2000 in Tijuana, Mexico on July 26, 2023. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The family had traveled along the northern border of Mexico, trying to find an access point where they could legally approach the United States to seek asylum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it\u2019s up to technology. The Biden Administration requires asylum seekers to seek asylum appointments through its CBP One smartphone app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But so far Cruz, like thousands of others, has been unable to get an appointment through the Customs and Border Protection\u2019s app using her cell phone. Mexican and U.S. authorities are blocking people without appointments from even approaching land ports of entry, contributing to increased risks at the Mexico-California border.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to try to throw ourselves across the (border) because I know it\u2019s a crime,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though migration isn\u2019t a crime, I just want to do everything legally. We just want to follow the rules \u2014 whatever they are \u2014 because if we don\u2019t, and they send us back to Honduras, we\u2019ll be killed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n