Children in migrant families forced to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings in the United States face a serious risk of assault and trauma, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) Children in migrant families forced to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings in the United States face a serious risk of assault and trauma, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday.
"Parents said that prolonged immigration court proceedings, fear of being incarcerated and uncertainty about the future took a toll on their family's health, safety and well-being. Many described changes in their children's behavior, saying they became more anxious or depressed," the report said.
Human Rights Watch explained the report was based on interviews with children and parents from 60 families, mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador during the time they were in Mexico awaiting their asylum hearings to enter the United States.
The Trump administration has claimed that migrant families are safe as long as they remain in Mexican camps.
But while in Mexico, the report noted that parents said they or their children were beaten, harassed, sexually assaulted or abducted. Some said Mexican police had harassed or extorted money from them and most said they were constantly fearful and easily identified as targets for violence.
To get to court hearings in the United States, families are required to report to a designated border crossing point, which sometimes requires them to arrive as early as 3:00 a.m. in unsafe locations from camps between 100 and 340 miles away, the report added.
After each hearing, the migrants were locked up in cold, often overcrowded immigration holding cells. Children as young as 13 are routinely separated from their mothers and often traumatized as a result, according to the report.
Nearly 1 million illegal border crossers sought political asylum in the United States during fiscal 2019, according to US immigration tallies. The Trump administration has claimed the program is needed to discourage migrants from making the dangerous trek through Mexico to the US border.
But given the toll on children and families, the Human Rights Watch report recommended an immediate termination of the Remain in Mexico program and that the United States embraces the global norm of allowing asylum seekers to remain in the country where their claims are heard.
