Thread by @mayaaverbuch

1/ We don't know a great deal about what is happening with the rollout of the #asylum plan – the Migrant Protection Protocols – that forces people to stay in #Mexico while they're waiting their US court dates. But over a week after it started in Tijuana, here's what we know.

2/ There have been 36 people released so far, according to @INAMI_mx. Every one I talked to was an adult who had requested asylum alone. We've watched them come out of the footbridge at San Ysidro with a transcript of their interview and a notice to appear in court in late March.

3/ The US gov said that they are going to expand this across the border, but for now only a trickle of people have been sent back to Tijuana. The majority of them have been men. It's unclear whether families will eventually be released, but so far that has not happened.

4/ The migrants have been given a list of pro-bono providers in the US. It's in tiny font, and many of them sought help from @AlOtroLado_Org in TJ. Not all of them had phones and international calling is expensive. Many are in shelters, while others found housing on their own.

5/ The best published account so far of what's going on is by @skinosian reporting for @pritheworld. Lawyers have discussed taking this issue to the courts, but they have not done so yet. pri.org/stories/2019-0…

6/ Some of the questions migrants were asked by US interviewers. "Who told you that you could seek help from the US?""Can you identify any of the people who organized the caravan?" "Did you pay a smuggler during your travel into the United States?"

7/ One man though he was told he could be sent to prison for twenty years if he crossed illegally, though he had no record. Another though he could seek a US work permit if he was denied asylum. Another thought he was was going to be deported to Honduras, because nobody explained

8/ Printed gov instruction say migrants can consult with US counsel "by telephone, email, video conference, or any other remote communication method." Or their lawyers can meet them in court right before their hearings. This seems like a logistical nightmare.

9/ Basically, this has not looked like thousands of people suddenly returned to Mexico, but this is just the beginning. If you're a lone Central American adult handing yourself in at San Ysidro, you have a fairly good chance of suddenly finding yourself back in Mexico.