San Diego corespondent Elliot Spagat for first reporting unsealed documents that raised questions about the Trump administration’s reasoning for forcing asylum seekers to remain in Mexico. Spagat closely watched the court file and prodded an official once a deadline had passed, breaking the news that holding cells at most U.S. facilities were no more than half full – and some were completely empty – during an unprecedented surge of asylum-seeking families from Central America. The Trump administration claimed that people had to wait in Mexico because it didn’t have the means to accommodate them. The revelation that got prominent attention in several major U.S. papers. https://bit.ly/39PkhAM
Documents reveal underuse of holding cells for asylum seekers
Cuban migrants cross the Paso del Norte International Bridge from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to be processed as asylum seekers on the U.S. side of the border, April 29, 2019. Newly unsealed court documents show that many U.S. holding cells along the Mexican border were less than half-full, or even empty, during an unprecedented surge of asylum-seeking Central American families. The documents cast doubt on the Trump administration’s claims that people had to wait in Mexico because there weren't enough resources to accommodate them.
AP Photo / Christian Torres