Are LGBTQ asylum seekers at greater risk?

Are LGBTQ asylum seekers at greater risk?

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Immigrant advocates are saying that LGBTQ asylum seekers from Central America that are stuck at the Mexican border at San Diego’s San Ysidro district are at greater risk of persecution and violence through Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, MPP, program.

This program is also known colloquially as “Remain in Mexico” and is being implemented since last January to protect individuals from vulnerable populations, as an article from Los Angeles Blade explained.

The LGBTQ community’s situation in Central American countries gets worse day by day as they are constantly victimized by sexual and gender-based violence. This number consists of “roughly two-thirds of asylum seekers from Mexico alone, according to a special report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2017”, Los Angeles Blade said.

Since this is a large number of people seeking asylum in the United States, a secretive program Trump’s administration called Prompt Asylum Claim Review, PACR, was created to speed up deportation. In just ten days or less, people were evaluated to determine whether the asylum seeker has a credible fear of harm or not.

“The report, ‘No Safe Place,’ published November 27, 2017 by Amnesty International, details the lack of proactive measures by the authorities to punish criminals, especially crimes against LGBTQ people –  particularly when corrupt police are responsible for the attacks”, Los Angeles Blade said.

In addition, LGBTQ asylum seekers who face persecution are left to contend with the process on the Mexican side of the border are in great danger, according to an article published by the San Diego Union-Tribune on November 23 of this year and cited by Los Angeles Blade.

It has also been reported that thousands of migrants have returned to Mexico because of MPP, which is an indication that it works. Ursela Ojeda, a policy adviser at the Women’s Refugee Commission, believes that some of the reasons may be that they got kidnapped, killed or “put on a bus by the Mexican government and shoved to another part of the country with no way to get back”.

“Advocates have been warning about the dangers of the program,” the Guardian wrote, and “a new report by Human Rights First revealed that there were at least 340 reports of rape, kidnapping, torture and other violent attacks against people returned to Mexico while they wait for their case to be heard in US immigration court,” Los Angeles Blade wrote.

If you or someone you know needs legal help with their immigration status, please contact an immigration lawyer as soon as possible. These processes tend to be complicated and tedious and an expert on the subject will be the right person to assist you. Contact Kannan Law today for more information.