SAN YSIDRO, Calif. — A group of migrants, some as young as five years old, stood behind a nearly 30-foot tall border fence near San Ysidro, waiting to be picked up by Border Patrol agents on Tuesday.
According to Erika Pinheiro, the executive director of Al Otro Lado, the San Diego sector receives migrants from over 100 countries. She said the tens of thousands of people who cross the Southern border every month seek asylum.
“You know, it is a process,” Pinheiro said.
On Tuesday, President Biden announced executive actions to limit the number of migrants who can claim asylum daily.
The action would turn away migrants claiming asylum between the ports of entry after seven consecutive days of more than 2,500 encounters along the southern border.
“Honestly, the 2500 capacity limit is laughable. That is lower than our capacity just in the San Diego sector per day,” Pinheiro said.
Pinheiro said she believes migrants who try to cross after capacity has been met will not be allowed to be present at ports of entry and will be forced to move between ports of entry.
According to Pinheiro, the administration said those who cross the border would be removed within hours or days.
Pinheiro believes it has the potential to overwhelm Border Patrol - depending on what happens on the Mexican side of the border.
“And all it's doing is taking away access to a system of protection to which they have a legal right,” Pinheiro said.
A study from The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, said that about two-thirds of asylum cases heard ended with migrants being legally allowed to remain in the United States over the past decade.
Once people enter the United States, how long does it usually take to be granted asylum?
Pinheiro said it would depend on which system they are going through and could take months to years.
Advocates are waiting to determine how any executive order will impact that or the court's current immigration backlog.
