Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Visalia Crash Sends Car Into Marie Callender’s After Driver Runs Red Light

17 hours ago

Gifford Fire Expands to 83,933 Acres in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo Counties

18 hours ago

S&P 500 and Nasdaq Lifted by Earnings, Fed Hopes

19 hours ago

Israeli Military Chief Opposes Gaza War Expansion, Raising Pressure on Netanyahu

19 hours ago

Israel Considers Full Gaza Takeover as More Die of Hunger

2 days ago

US to Initially Impose ‘Small Tariff’ on Pharma Imports, Trump Says

2 days ago

Cruz Criticizes Hochul for Wearing Headscarf at Slain Officer’s Funeral

2 days ago

Trump Says Banks Discriminate Against His Supporters While White House Prepares Order

2 days ago
Confusion, Fear Reigns on Mexico Border With New US Policy
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
July 17, 2019

Share

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Asylum-seekers gathered in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Texas, grappled to understand what a new U.S. policy that all but eliminates refugee claims by Central Americans and many others meant for their bids to find a better life in America amid a chaos of rumors, confusion and fear.

“They didn’t deport us but they took us out (of the U.S.) in a bad way; in theory we wait for a hearing.” — Nolvin Godoy, a 29-year-old Guatemalan
The policy went into effect Tuesday and represents the most forceful attempt to date by President Donald Trump to slash the number of people seeking asylum in the United States. It denies asylum to anyone who shows up on the U.S. border after traveling through another country, something Central American migrants have to do.
In some parts of Nuevo Laredo, migrants continued to trickle into shelters, including seven members of a family from the Mexican state of Michoacan, who fled the shootings and extortions in their violent region and were happy to find shelter even though some had to sleep in the hallway. They hoped they could get asylum because they did not pass through another country to reach the border.
But about 70 mostly Central American migrants, who had crossed Mexico to reach the border, were returned to Mexico with an appointment with a judge tucked in a transparent plastic bag — part of another recently imposed policy of requiring many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico rather than the U.S.
Some bitter, they assembled in the National Institute of Migration facility next to the international bridge with a cluster of women cradling children, men asking questions and small children running around under the watchful eye of parents.
“They didn’t deport us but they took us out (of the U.S.) in a bad way; in theory we wait for a hearing,” said Nolvin Godoy, a 29-year-old Guatemalan who has gone deep into debt paying a coyote almost $10,000 to take him, his wife and her 2-year-old son to get them across the Rio Grande to turn themselves in to U.S. authorities.
Photo of migrant child at an immigration center
A migrant child looks at the camera while her parents wait Tuesday at an immigration center on the International Bridge 1 in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Migrants Don’t Dare Go Outside Migration Installations

After 10 days in a detention center in the U.S., they say they were given an appointment with a judge in September to begin the asylum process. Now they’ve been sent back to Mexico and hold out little hope of being able to appear before the judge on the date set.
“Today the law fell on us and they are going to take us to Monterrey — 200 kilometers from Nuevo Laredo — and we don’t know what is going happen after that because we don’t know anyone; I am sinking into debt,” Godoy said.
Mexican migration officials gave them food and a document that is a certificate guaranteeing them access to official programs but which does not specify which ones, though Mexico has said the returned will be able to get jobs. They received an official telephone number and email where they can get advice.
Godoy, who says the stained shirt on his back is his only possession, believes it will all be worth little if he has no means of survival. “Maybe it’s best to go back.”
No migrants dare to go outside the migration installations. “Outside is organized crime,” he said.
Dozens of people like Godoy were returned to Nuevo Laredo on Tuesday and by nightfall had been put on a bus with the only explanation that they were being taken to Monterrey, in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon. Most of them had reached the U.S. irregularly, and did not fit the profile of migrants who would wait in Mexico for weeks or months, sign up on waiting lists and then be called by U.S. authorities to process their asylum claims.
Some said they had not originally planned to request asylum in the United States, and said the idea only occurred to them when they were offered the option.

Immigrant Traffickers Likely the Only Winners

However, as late as Tuesday morning a group of 15 migrants, including four children, showed up at the international bridge because their names had reached the top of the list that has long been used to allow migrants to request asylum. The possibility that process might continue to work gave some hope to migrants like Linerio Gonzalez, 24, and Ana Paolini, 20, who fled Venezuela for political reasons. It was unclear if the new measures would change things for Venezuelans like them.

“Added to all this is now the uncertainty about mass deportations, that could put our shelters in a difficult position.” Rev. Julio López, director of the Roman Catholic shelter Albergue Nazareth
“It drives you to desperation,” said Gonzalez.
“You hear a lot of things, but we don’t know,” Paolini said, adding that the prospect of being able to file for asylum, only to be returned to Nuevo Laredo, fills her with fear.
North of the border, civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge on Wednesday for a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s asylum restriction. Immigrant advocates say that plan illegally circumvents the asylum process created by Congress.
The Rev. Julio López, director of the Roman Catholic shelter Albergue Nazareth, said the border was in the grip “of a lot of confusion because of all the changes.”
Lopez said the situation had become worse for migrants, and immigrant traffickers were likely to be the only winners.
On top of it, more deportees might be expected from the planned raids in the United States, something that could overwhelm shelters.
“Added to all this is now the uncertainty about mass deportations, that could put our shelters in a difficult position,” said Rev. Lopez.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Who Drugged and Sexually Abused Minors Sentenced to 53 Years to Life

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Arrest Four in Narcotics Bust After Five-Month Investigation

DON'T MISS

Overturned Big Rig Backs Up Highway 99 Traffic in Fresno

DON'T MISS

California Reveals 5th State Prison to Close Because of Falling Inmate Population

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Search for Robbery Suspect Near Blackstone Avenue

DON'T MISS

Trump Says US Will Charge Tariff of About 100% on Semiconductor Imports

DON'T MISS

Trump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race

DON'T MISS

Apple Commits Additional $100 Billion to US Investments

DON'T MISS

Fresno Taken Off Federal Sanctuary City List After DHS Reversal

DON'T MISS

Trita Parsi Shares Ex-Green Beret’s Account of Deadly Gaza Aid Sites

UP NEXT

Trump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race

UP NEXT

Apple Commits Additional $100 Billion to US Investments

UP NEXT

Trita Parsi Shares Ex-Green Beret’s Account of Deadly Gaza Aid Sites

UP NEXT

US Army Sergeant Suspected of Shooting, Wounding Five Fellow Soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia

UP NEXT

Switzerland Facing 39% US Tariff as President Leaves Washington Empty-Handed

UP NEXT

Global Insured Catastrophe Losses Hit $80 Billion in First Half of 2025, Report Shows

UP NEXT

Five US Soldiers Shot at Georgia Base, Shooter in Custody

UP NEXT

VP Vance to Host Dinner to Discuss Jeffrey Epstein Fallout

UP NEXT

Israeli Settlers Attacked Gaza-Bound Aid Convoy, Jordan Says

UP NEXT

Israeli Military Chief Opposes Gaza War Expansion, Raising Pressure on Netanyahu

California Reveals 5th State Prison to Close Because of Falling Inmate Population

12 hours ago

Fresno Police Search for Robbery Suspect Near Blackstone Avenue

12 hours ago

Trump Says US Will Charge Tariff of About 100% on Semiconductor Imports

12 hours ago

Trump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race

12 hours ago

Apple Commits Additional $100 Billion to US Investments

13 hours ago

Fresno Taken Off Federal Sanctuary City List After DHS Reversal

13 hours ago

Trita Parsi Shares Ex-Green Beret’s Account of Deadly Gaza Aid Sites

13 hours ago

First Date Turns Into DUI High-Speed Pursuit on Highway 99, CHP Fresno Says

13 hours ago

Tulare Co. Sends 86 to Drug Treatment Under Prop 36. Fresno Sends Only 3

13 hours ago

US Army Sergeant Suspected of Shooting, Wounding Five Fellow Soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia

13 hours ago

Fresno Man Who Drugged and Sexually Abused Minors Sentenced to 53 Years to Life

A Fresno man was sentenced Wednesday to 53 years to life in state prison for committing lewd acts involving three minors over a six-year spa...

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

Fresno Man Who Drugged and Sexually Abused Minors Sentenced to 53 Years to Life

Clovis Police arrested Jeremiah Gonzalez (top left), 25, Jonathan Simmavong (bottom left), 27, both of Clovis, Gursimran Mahal (top right), 25, and Zackary Torres, 26, both of Fresno, in a narcotics investigation that led to the seizure of drugs, a firearm, and illegal vape products. (Clovis PD)
11 hours ago

Clovis Police Arrest Four in Narcotics Bust After Five-Month Investigation

An overturned big rig on Highway 99 at Clinton Avenue caused major traffic backups in both directions Wednesday, August 6, 2025, afternoon in Fresno. (Fresno County SO)
11 hours ago

Overturned Big Rig Backs Up Highway 99 Traffic in Fresno

12 hours ago

California Reveals 5th State Prison to Close Because of Falling Inmate Population

Fresno police are searching for a suspect who robbed a person near Blackstone and Garland avenues and fled in a white Chevrolet sedan. (Fresno PD)
12 hours ago

Fresno Police Search for Robbery Suspect Near Blackstone Avenue

Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. (Reuters File)
12 hours ago

Trump Says US Will Charge Tariff of About 100% on Semiconductor Imports

President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters at the White House in Washington, July 30, 2025. The conversation between President Trump and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo came at a time when Cuomo was publicly pushing Mayor Eric Adams and other rivals to drop out of the race in hopes of consolidating the support of voters who oppose the frontrunner, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
12 hours ago

Trump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race

13 hours ago

Apple Commits Additional $100 Billion to US Investments

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend