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 Organized by the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, the border
crossing is the third in a campaign that began last July and has
included journeys into Texas and Arizona.
The participants are mostly in their 20s and say they would have
been protected in the U.S. and allowed to attend college with
in-state tuition had Congress passed the 2010 Dream Act protecting
undocumented youths brought to the U.S. as children.
"I want to come home," said Ramon Dorado, who grew up in New Mexico.
He wore his graduation cap and gown as he made the passage and spoke
perfect English. "I was two weeks from graduating college when I was
stopped by the Albuquerque police for a traffic violation and
deported because I have no papers."
Dorado led a group of about 40 immigrants across the border from
Tijuana to the port of entry at San Diego, where they asked U.S.
Customs and Border Protection agents for asylum.
An earlier group made the same trip on Monday, and a third was
scheduled to come over on Sunday morning. All were deported or left
the country before the June 2012 date when President Barack Obama
signed an executive order deferring deportation action on such
cases.
"We have seen an unprecedented number of deportations in the past
few years — in a few weeks we expect to reach 2 million
deportations," said immigrant rights activist Enrique Morones, who
helped to organize the protest. "People who were raised here and
know no other culture, have no family in Mexico, have never been
arrested, are being deported."
Morones said that of the 35 people who applied for asylum after the
earlier mass arrival on Monday, one had been granted an asylum
hearing, one was returned to Mexico and the other 33 remain in U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention.
A request for comment from ICE was referred to U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, which did immediately return a call from Reuters.
Last year, an immigration reform package that included a path to
citizenship for the undocumented passed the U.S. Senate but stalled
in the House of Representatives, where it lacked Republican support.
On Thursday, Obama directed his Department of Homeland Security to
enforce immigration laws "more humanely," the White House said.
Despite some support, congressional Republicans are divided over
immigration reform and party leaders have made clear that
legislation is unlikely to be taken up before the November
congressional elections.
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GUNFIRE AND FEAR
Because they do not qualify for deferred deportation under Obama's
rule, the group is asking for asylum based on fear that they will be
harmed if they remain in Mexico, Morones said.
Miriam Rodriguez, 26, said she heard gunfire every night when she
lived in the violence-torn city of Juarez, leading her to send her
U.S.-born children to live with relatives in Chicago.
Dorado said he had "many bad experiences" in Mexico.
"I hope the U.S. will see this and let me go back to my family," he
said.
But Esther Valdes, an immigration attorney in San Diego, said the
applicants' chances are slim.
"The credible fear has to be found for each person individually,
based on what has happened to them," she explained. "It has to be
more than a generalized fear."
For example, Valdes said, she currently has two dozen asylum-seeking
clients, including a family in which the son was killed and the
daughter raped.
Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. when she was 9 years old, moved to
Juarez with her children after her husband was deported there in
2011. But with their children, ages 5 and 8, now back in Chicago,
she longs to be with them.
"I sent them to my sister so they can be safe and educated," she
said.
(Writing by Sharon Bernstein; editing by Ken Wills)
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