“I don't know what to do.” US asylum seekers are blocked due to Trump's immigration crackdown.
US President Donald Trump began his sweeping crackdown on immigration on Monday, ordering the military to support border security, imposing a broad asylum ban and taking steps to limit the citizenship of children born on American soil.
Declaring illegal immigration a national emergency, Trump ordered the Pentagon to provide support for a border wall, detention centers and migrant relocations, and he authorized the defense secretary to send troops to the border as needed.
Trump called on his administration to restore its “stay in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican migrants to wait in Mexico for their US cases to be resolved.
Shortly after the inauguration, U.S. border officials announced they had shut down outgoing President Joe Biden's CBP One entry program, which allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the U.S. legally by scheduling an appointment on the app to do
Dayna del Valle, 40, of Venezuela, spent eight months in Mexico waiting for an appointment on Tuesday, working at a nail salon but earning so little she could barely send money back to her mother in Colombia, who has cancer. a female survivor who needed medical treatment for her blood pressure.
“I'm lost,” he said, “I don't know what to do, where to go.”
Republican Trump has recaptured the White House, promising to strengthen border security and deport a record number of migrants. He criticized Biden for the high level of illegal immigration during his Democratic presidency, even though Biden has angered some members of his own party by tightening policies that have severely limited the right to seek asylum.
Trump's influence helped kill a bipartisan bill in Congress earlier last year that sought to address long-standing and newer problems the U.S. faces due to the influx of people at the border.Once a magnet for individual Mexicans seeking work, in recent years entire families and asylum in Central and South America growing numbers of claimants have made sometimes perilous journeys to enter the US.
The result has been years of backlogs in asylum court, but on Monday the fledgling Trump administration moved to take control of the U.S. Justice Department's immigration courts, firing four top immigration court officials, three sources familiar with the matter said.
In her first comments since Trump's inauguration, Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum said some of her initial statements were very similar to her previous term, as she also sought to reassure Mexicans that she would work hard to protect their interests.
In response to Trump's initial moves to end illegal immigration, Sheinbaum said his administration would deal with migrants' needs in a “humane” way, although he also pledged to repatriate foreign migrants to their home countries.
“We had 1 day left”
Republicans say the large-scale deportations are necessary after millions of immigrants crossed illegally under Biden's presidency.In early 2022, the number of immigrants in the U.S. in illegal or temporary status was roughly 11 million, according to a U.S. government estimate. which some analysts now estimate at 13 to 14 million.
“As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to protect our country from threats and invasions, and that's exactly what I'm going to do,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
Trump's critics and immigrant advocates say mass deportations could cripple the economy, tear apart families and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in federal court Monday that Trump's decision to end the CBP One program has eliminated the only way to get asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, the civil rights group's opening salvo in a court battle against Trump's agenda.
One of US President Donald Trump's first executive orders declared a national emergency on the border with Mexico, which involves deploying the military and deporting millions of illegal immigrants.
Honduran migrant Denia Mendez's phone began buzzing with news that the app she used to book her appointment for U.S. asylum on Tuesday had crashed.
Mendez, a 32-year-old single mother, fled with her daughter Sofia and son Isa, both teenagers, after a gang member began blackmailing her.
“We were a day away,” Mendez said in disbelief as he discussed his options with other migrants, many of them Venezuelan.
Legal challenges have begun
In his executive order, which focuses on “birthright citizenship,” Trump called on U.S. agencies to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. without at least one U.S. citizen or permanent resident parent, enforcing the restrictions within 30 days.
The order quickly sparked legal challenges on Tuesday, when 22 Democratic-led states, along with the District of Columbia and the city of San Francisco, filed lawsuits in federal courts in Boston and Seattle, alleging Trump violated the US Constitution.
There were two similar cases presented by ACLU, immigrant organizations and expectant mothers Hours after Trump signed the executive order, launching the first major legal battle of his administration.
If Trump's order is approved, for the first time more than 150,000 children born in the United States each year will be stripped of their citizenship rights, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell's office.
“President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights,” he said in a statement.
President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration in his second term, and his so-called border czar has targeted the city of Chicago. CBC's Nick Purdon goes there to find a community living in fear, but loyal will fight.
Canada does not give formal guarantees to children born in the country, although citizenship is granted in many cases, including the recent case involving Russian spies that reached the Supreme Court.
In other orders, Trump suspended US refugee resettlement for at least three months and ordered a security review to determine whether travelers from certain countries should be subject to a travel ban.
The Republican president has rolled back existing guidelines for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that prioritized serious criminals and broadened their scope, including targeting migrants with final deportation orders, a move that could help speed removals.
Trump has also begun the process of designating criminal cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and enforcing a 1798 law known as the Foreign Enemies Act against foreign group members.
