The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made an unusual move by granting temporary asylum to several Mexican immigrants, including a handful of those who are illegally in the United States, after they crossed the border in a pro-amnesty protest in late July.
“The Homeland Security Department tentatively approved asylum requests for seven Mexican immigrants, including some who were living in the United States illegally but left and attempted to re-enter as part of a protest against U.S. deportation policies,” the Associated Press’ Alicia Caldwell reported on Tuesday. “The preliminary approval is highly unusual because it is rare for the U.S. government to grant asylum to Mexican citizens.”
Caldwell noted that the “immigrants were trying to call attention to hundreds of thousands who have been deported during President Barack Obama's administration. They had cited a credible fear of persecution should they return to Mexico.”
They were, according to a late July piece from the Huffington Post, part of a protest the pro-amnesty National Immigrant Youth Alliance (NIYA) organized. “In an audacious move even from a group known for pushing boundaries, the National Immigrant Youth Alliance organized the crossing at the Arizona border town of Nogales as a protest against President Barack Obama’s record-setting pace of deportations,” the Huffington Post’s Roque Planas wrote on July 23.
No comments:
Post a Comment