Fresh allegations have come to light regarding the US immigration officials accused of refusing entry to foreign nationals who arrive on the US-Mexico border claiming they are being persecuted in their home nations.
A new report released by Human Rights First claims that extra information has been gathered by its researchers that demonstrates how immigration authorities at a number of different ports of entry on the US-Mexico border have been continuing to turn away asylum seekers and force them to return to Mexico. If the assertions made in the report are accurate, they provide proof that a number of immigration officials on the border are either ignorant of US international agreements and US law or are deliberately violating them.
The US cannot reject asylum seekers on its borders, which include international airports and ports of entry on the border, under both international agreements made by the country and US immigration law. However the information published in the May report from Human Rights First demonstrates that a number of immigrant asylum seekers have not been received by US border officials on the Mexico border, as does a complaint filed by the American Immigration Council and various other groups to the Department of Homeland Security back in January.
Customs and Border Protection insisted that its policies on asylum remain unchanged but did not give specific denials in regards to the individual cases that are cited in either the January complaint or the Human Rights First report.