PHOENIX — A Supreme Court ruling has reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols also known as the ‘Remain In Mexico’ policy put in place by the Trump administration.
For thousands of people that means they’ll keep living in camps in border towns in Mexico, but a Phoenix Veteran is trying to make a difference.
“It's just inhumane,” said Marta Vazquez.
Vazquez is a Phoenix resident who has made several trips to Mexico, bringing donated supplies to those in need at the camps.
But she says material goods are the least of many asylum seekers' worries right now when criminals prey on them almost daily.
“The perpetrators, they could be around the corner, these are the conditions that they live in, this family is 17 people all the way from one and a half years old,” stated Vazquez.
We spoke to some of the migrants, a mother from the Mexican state of Guerrero said, her entire family of 16 left in fear hoping the U.S. could help them with asylum.
“The cartel killed three of my children, they threatened us, that's why we came here,” stated the mother.
She says she wasn’t expecting to have to wait under the conditions that they’re in.
“We’re not safe here either, we’re out in the streets.”
Vazquez says many families at the camp have not received any guidance about the immigration process and are confused about how the ruling would impact them.
“They have no hope, they’re waiting over here, but they don't know for how long and they don't even know what they’re waiting for. There’s no assurance of anything,” said Vazquez.
Meanwhile, other migrants say they have opted for sending their children alone to protect them from the violence and living conditions at the camps.
“I had to do it, it was an act of love,” said a mother from Honduras.
The woman says she has been waiting for a court hearing for two years. She says she will wait at the camp for as long as it's needed. Her dream is to reunite with her two children who are now living in the U.S. with family.
“It hurts me when my 14-year-old son calls me saying he doesn’t want to be alone, that he needs me, he asks why I haven't gotten a court date.”
It is estimated about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers have been forced to wait in Mexico under the ‘Remain in Mexico policy.
