First batch of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico allowed into US
Al JazeeraIn a reversal of a Trump-era policy, more than 25,000 asylum seekers will be allowed to pursue their claims in the US. “These people were pre-selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as being particularly vulnerable and they were the first people to be processed,” Taylor Levy, an immigration lawyer based in California who represents asylum seekers in Mexico, told Al Jazeera. “This policy forced asylum seekers including families with children to wait in dangerous border towns across Mexico’s northern border without any support whatsoever,” she told Al Jazeera. Pro-immigration advocates, meanwhile, said the US border remains essentially closed for new asylum seekers and the Biden administration continues to employ the “Title 42” immigration rule, a provision invoked by the Trump administration that used the pretence of the pandemic to swiftly expel people who seek asylum at a US port of entry, even if they are fleeing danger. “While this is a huge step, the border does remain essentially shut down for all new asylum seekers,” says Becky Gendelman, an attorney at Human Rights First who represents Juan and his family.