Ocasio-Cortez on border tensions: Applying for refugee status isn't a crime

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by Sayter
image for Ocasio-Cortez on border tensions: Applying for refugee status isn't a crime

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that it's not a crime to seek refugee status, a comment that comes as tensions mount over a band of Central American migrants reaching the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn’t a crime," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

"It wasn’t for Jewish families fleeing Germany. It wasn’t for targeted families fleeing Rwanda. It wasn’t for communities fleeing war-torn Syria. And it isn’t for those fleeing violence in Central America."

Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn’t a crime.

It wasn’t for Jewish families fleeing Germany.

It wasn’t for targeted families fleeing Rwanda.

It wasn’t for communities fleeing war-torn Syria.

And it isn’t for those fleeing violence in Central America. https://t.co/qhv7Rr1itn — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 25, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez's tweet quoted a separate one from NBC News that featured a photograph of migrants running from a border crossing after U.S. border agents fired tear gas.

The agents began spraying tear gas after some migrants attempted to breach a border fence between Tijuana and California, according to The Associated Press.

The news service noted that the breeze carried the tear gas from border agents "hundreds of yards."

The incident occurred just after the U.S. suspended pedestrian crossings at the San Ysidro port of entry.

The migrants that were at the border crossing in Tijuana are members of the so-called migrant caravan that has gained widespread attention.

Most of the individuals are from Central America and fleeing violence.

President Trump Donald John Trump95-year-old charged as accessory to 36,000 deaths at Nazi concentration camp Former Reagan secretary of state says U.S. should work to end violence driving migrants to U.S. Puerto Ricans may have elected Rick Scott and other midterm surprises MORE has repeatedly lashed out at the band of migrants and has referred to the caravan as an "invasion." He's also threatened to shut down the border completely if Mexico does not hold the migrants while the U.S. processes their asylum claims.

He said Saturday night "migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court."

"We only will allow those who come into our Country legally," he wrote on Twitter.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Mexico's incoming administration has agreed to Trump's requested policy that would force migrants to stay in Mexico as they seek asylum.

mikechi2501 on November 26th, 2018 at 04:06 UTC »

Comment on r/news from a US border patrol agent:

I work at the busiest border in the country (San Ysidro. We closed on Monday for three hours because of our intel that ~500 were approaching. We are working very closely with Mexican Immigration and their police forces who will, hopefully, give advanced warning on any mass group approaching. There are rumors of another group coming later today, but we will see.

A few years ago with the influx of Haitians we worked closely with Mexican Immigration and advocacy groups to start camps in Tijuana. As migrants come, they arrive in the camps, put their name on a list, and wait their turn. We have the capacity to process 100-150 per day cases per day. Why? Because of the complexity of some cases. Family units are processed, given a date before an asylum officer and released into the United States. Those traveling alone are processed and then held as coordination with ICE and detention facilities are set up. Before this caravan arrived there were ~1600 migrants waiting in Tijuana.

At the port we don’t call Trump to authorize the closure. Local, on shift, management decides that. We have closed the border because of the possibility of a mass rush of people. Look at live videos on Facebook. “Como esta la linea Tijuana” or “Frontera.info”.

3BettingYourMom on November 26th, 2018 at 03:44 UTC »

But denying Asylum/Jobs/Aid offered by Mexico, then charging the border violently isn't the right way to do things either.

TrumpForRussia on November 26th, 2018 at 00:45 UTC »

You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.

- Exodus 22:21