Save Asylum Update

The migrants shared that they experienced death threats, corruption, organized crime, and gender-based violence in their hometowns. These experiences drove them to quickly flee with their families to the US to seek protection. Jesenia [not real name] challenged Sinema’s staffers to empathize, “I’m not the only one, many of us are fleeing for the same reasons, to save our lives. I want you to put yourselves in our shoes. If you’re parents, imagine what you would do to keep your kids safe.” Jesenia has been waiting in limbo for one month in Nogales, Mexico after fleeing her town in southern Mexico, where the local mafia assaulted her and tried to recruit her teenage son.

The asylum seekers impressed upon Sinema’s team the imminent peril and precariousness of being forced to survive in Nogales, Mexico as the border continues to remain indefinitely closed to migrants under Title 42. These families escaped grave danger only to face additional insecurity, death threats, extortion from Mexican authorities, and disproportionate cost of living simply for being foreigners. For many of them, the daily meals served at KBI’s Migrant Outreach Center are the only way to feed their family. Yet, the expensive cost of travel and the fear of walking to the shelter alone with their children forces parents to negotiate between safety or sustenance.

Although Senator Sinema could not attend the meeting in-person, her team assured the meeting attendees that one of Senator’s top priorities is to ensure that migrants seeking asylum are treated humanely. We at the Kino Border Initiative are convinced that direct contact with migrants and the conditions they face at the border, favor empathy and awareness with the migrant cause. We thank Senator Sinema’s team for their visit to our center, hoping that it will add to the much needed changes to the immigration policies, for a more just and humane system- namely the end of Title 42 and increased oversight for Customs and Border Patrol.

CLICK HERE for more information in the digital press release.

Stay tuned for more updates about the next event scheduled for Saturday September 25^th.

Thanks for your support,
Janis Sherick, FCC representative to the Save Asylum Binational Coalition