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In Tijuana, asylum seekers sleep in the mud, without needed food, restrooms, medical care
The Hill ^ | 12/20/18 | Anne Chandler

Posted on 12/20/2018 1:40:40 PM PST by yesthatjallen

As the migrant “caravan” continues to dominate headlines, many of us are focusing on protecting the rights of those who are fleeing violence in their homelands. I recently traveled to Tijuana where I volunteered at a legal information table under a tent outside of Benito Juarez sports complex, a temporary shelter for roughly 6,000 Central Americans. What I saw was appalling, and a direct result of the fabricated crisis created by this administration.

One fact about the shelter became immediately clear. The shelter did not, in fact, provide shelter. It is an uncovered sports arena, which provided no refuge from the rains that arrived midweek. Most parents lacked access to a tent or a tarp to keep themselves or their children dry. Sleeping pads became wet, muddy sponges. The raw sewage that lingered near the portable toilets quickly spread, oozing its way quickly across the hardened ground and into the families’ belongings.

I realized only a few lucky ones were able to provide their child the temporary comfort of a clean diaper. I was startled at the number of sick children and parents lacking access to these basic supplies. One mother cradling a moaning 3-year-old child in her arms explained to me the various injuries she suffered at the hands of her abusive husband. She kept pausing during her description of why she left her country with her children to point out the blood in her child’s stool, and that she could not sleep at night out of fear that her child might not make it.

Many also expressed concerns about safety in the shelter. We learned that women and children were taking showers in the open with their bodies completely exposed and with very little security. It was from this environment that I explained to the mothers, who shivered through wet clothing, children in tow, that it wasn’t clear how many weeks, or months, they would need to wait to reach the U.S. border to ask for protection.

It was from this environment that I realized that many of the children who were navigating food and shelter on their own without the help of a parent, were also being turned away at the designated port of entries by DHS officials under a rule known as “metering”.

Our government’s response to this humanitarian crisis has been nothing short of callous. Instead of attempting to understand why these children and adults have traversed thousands of miles to flee from their countries, the narrative has been riddled with war-mongering rhetoric, referring to the migration as an “invasion”.

At this time, it is paramount that we pause and parse the facts. The caravan is not moving together to serve as a weapon; they are together for self-protection. The journey from Central America to the United States is a perilous one. Thousands of miles are traveled merely on foot and often through dangerous regions.

Most of the girls we work with have been raped during the journey. Medecins Sans Frontieres recently found that 68 percent of interviewed migrants and refugees were exposed to violence in transit in Mexico, and about one-third of the women were sexually abused. Girls traveling on their own are more likely to face sexual abuse. It is also untrue that the caravan represents an unprecedented surge in the numbers of people attempting to cross the border. Our government’s own data tells us that migration in recent years has been historically low.

Although the Benito Juarez sports complex was just shut down due to its poor conditions, the crisis continues. Tijuana is not set-up to serve as a waiting room for those seeking asylum in the United States.

We should be concerned about the fate of the unaccompanied kids in Tijuana, worried about the vulnerability of LGBTQ individuals moving about in Tijuana, and for the mothers and children who remain vulnerable to additional exploitation as they navigate the open air showers, lack of medical care and other basic needs, and the daily challenges of waiting for an uncertain amount of time in Tijuana.

What haunts me, as I come to terms with the manufactured humanitarian crisis I witnessed, is the degree to which these migrants have been “othered” that we ask them to sleep in the mud, in the cold, without access to sufficient food, restrooms or medical care.

Our asylum process and statutory protections set forth to protect unaccompanied children are far from perfect. Though imperfect, our government has the resources and capacity to follow the laws on our books. It’s a moment we should all reach out to the Department of Homeland Security and ask them to do their job, permitting the children and adults who approach our border and who express a fear of returning to their home country to have their claims processed in accordance to the rules clearly set forth by Congress.

Anne Chandler is the executive director of the Tahirih Justice Center's Houston office, a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on helping immigrant women and children.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; fakenews; illegalimmigrants; mexico; tijuana
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To: yesthatjallen
"As the migrant “caravan horde” continues.."

..to seek gringo's easy money handouts..

21 posted on 12/20/2018 1:51:39 PM PST by chief lee runamok (expect nothing)
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To: yesthatjallen

sounds like its past time for them to go home, doesn’t it?

they can apply to immigrate using regular channels directly from their home countries


22 posted on 12/20/2018 1:52:10 PM PST by faithhopecharity
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To: yesthatjallen

Thumbs up to the mayor of Tijuana who is fed up with these migrants and their demands.


23 posted on 12/20/2018 1:52:38 PM PST by Pelham (Secure Voter ID. Mexico has it, because unlike us they take voting seriously)
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To: Sarah Barracuda

That’s old news....but the media keeps it alive to gain sympathy for the illegals...........who no matter what is done for them in Mexico will complain, creates issues, and a host of other happenings until they can get in. You cannot trust the reporting done on the Caravan peoples and illegals trying to get here. They are coached big time and positioned for the stories the media wants to feed the public.


24 posted on 12/20/2018 1:52:44 PM PST by caww
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To: PGR88
re: "Woodstock South"

Great idea, we just need to re-brand this, send all the Leftards there, and let all the NGOs and foundations that want to support it send their money to Mexico.... just so long as we keep it south of our border.


25 posted on 12/20/2018 1:53:53 PM PST by Trump_the_Evil_Left (FReeper formerly known as Enchante (registered Sept. 5, 2001), back from the wild....)
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To: yesthatjallen; All
Here’s a relevant statement concerning asylum seekers from Heather MacDonald.
"But you know, what I find so extraordinary is the left in the morning has one narrative, which is that, there no place more oppressive on earth than the United States for people of color. It's just, if you are a person of color in the United States, you are the subject of constant oppression and then in afternoon, says we need every third world person of color to come here. Well, they cannot both be true [emphasis added].” — Heather MacDonald warns US colleges are breeding hate

26 posted on 12/20/2018 1:54:21 PM PST by Amendment10
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To: yesthatjallen

Sleep in the mud, I don’t care.


27 posted on 12/20/2018 1:54:24 PM PST by just me (God bless President Trump and the USA)
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To: yesthatjallen
She's a hyperventilating snowflake and is probably lying to boot. But IF it's all true, not MY, nor Trump's problem!

The kid had blood in her stools? REALLY...and WE should take in a disease riddled kid and her incompetent mother?

Mexico didn't stop these people, it offered them asylum and work, but most of them turned it down!

They should either just stay in Mexico or go home!

28 posted on 12/20/2018 1:55:05 PM PST by nopardons
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To: yesthatjallen
What I saw was appalling, and a direct result of the fabricated crisis created by this administration.

Ann Chandler is notable mainly for the number of falsehoods she can pack into one short article.
This “crisis” as she calls it, is entirely caused by the governments of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador together with the idiots who allowed a Soros funded bunch of anarchists to persuade them to try and illegally invade our country. A thousand curses on all of them

29 posted on 12/20/2018 1:55:43 PM PST by SmokingJoe
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To: yesthatjallen

So........what are Americans supposed to do about the “horrible” conditions during the invaders moving northward? What did these people think would happen when they reached the American border???? I cannot believe they are so dumb to believe the recruiters when the invasion was being put together in the early stages. This is NOT the problem for America. It is not OUR responsibility. We’ve taken too many irresponsible illegal aliens into our country and treated them WELL. In response these people do not think once to tell us what a terrible country we have, while they are spending OUR Tax money for themselves.


30 posted on 12/20/2018 1:56:34 PM PST by tillacum (I am a conservative deplorable and doggone proud of it. I back President Trump, I voted for him.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Mexico has made repeated offers to these people. So far, they have refused Mexico’s help. Brownsville, TX was 1500 miles closer and has a working crossing.

FAKE NEWS and Democrat Lies keep these pawns acting like fools!


31 posted on 12/20/2018 1:57:30 PM PST by Steamburg (Other people's money is the only language a politician respects; starve the bastards)
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To: yesthatjallen
the degree to which these migrants have been “othered” that we ask them to sleep in the mud, in the cold, without access to sufficient food, restrooms or medical care.

We didn't ASK them to DO anything. They chose to do all of this. Free will and personal responsibility. Learn it and live it. It's what she expects from those of us she wants to pay for these people.

32 posted on 12/20/2018 1:57:51 PM PST by Hoffer Rand (God be greater than the worries in my life, be stronger than the weakness in my mind, be magnified.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Yeah how does that work? They opened up a much nicer facility, but a lot of them didn’t go because they want to be close to the border, to cause idiots like the author of this article “concern”.


33 posted on 12/20/2018 1:57:53 PM PST by Rusty0604
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To: yesthatjallen

I bet they all have Houses and Beds but they picked the Mud and it’s not Trump’s fault


34 posted on 12/20/2018 1:57:55 PM PST by butlerweave
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To: yesthatjallen
I recently traveled to Tijuana where I volunteered at a legal information table under a tent outside of Benito Juarez sports complex,
Bullsh*t Artist
35 posted on 12/20/2018 2:00:32 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: yesthatjallen
These conditions are whose fault? Were they forced to take part in this attempted invasion? Is everybody else to blame when I travel and end up in a lousy motel room that I booked on line?

Does a chicken have lips?

36 posted on 12/20/2018 2:01:52 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
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To: yesthatjallen

Making themselves right at home then. #shole


37 posted on 12/20/2018 2:03:57 PM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: rktman

” ...a direct result of the fabricated crisis created by this administration.”

I think an explanation is in order, because I’ve never seen anything from Trump about this issue other than and admonition to the people involved, not to come.


38 posted on 12/20/2018 2:04:29 PM PST by vette6387
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To: yesthatjallen

NOT.
OUR.
PROBLEM.


39 posted on 12/20/2018 2:09:04 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj ("It's Slappin' Time !")
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To: yesthatjallen

Go back to your NOT(According to Liberals) “SH!THOLE” countries. Life has to be wonderful there according to Democrats. After all there are hardly any WHITE people there don’t you know.


40 posted on 12/20/2018 2:11:59 PM PST by LeonardFMason
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