Despite the changing and increasingly strict immigration policies pursued by the Trump administration, people continue to come to the US. Over 1,000 people, including many families, waited in Tijuana last week, to ask the US for asylum, as revealed by an official list tracking the processing at the port of entry in San Ysidro.
Since last year, the port of entry in San Ysidro had a steady ebb and flow of would-be immigrant asylum seekers, even with policy changes intended to enable more immigrants to be kept in custody, which clogged up the processing system for new arrivals at the border, according to officials. Since April, that flow has remained constant.
A minimum of 1,000 asylum seekers can be seen waiting under trees at the end of the plaza on El Chaparral on the Tijuana area of the PedWest border crossing. Despite the continually changing rules for entry, the immigrants remain intent on attempting to gain access to the US. The Trump administration had hoped that the prosecution of parents illegally crossing the border with kids would deter immigrants, especially those coming from Central America.
Most immigrant families on the Californian border do not cross illegally but instead go to official ports of entry to ask the US for asylum. 9,670 family members have so far arrived at US ports of entry sans documentation asking for asylum in 2018, with 3609 illegal border crossers apprehended, Customs and Border Protection data has revealed.