Thread by @lomikriel

Riots broke out this week in a Piedras Negras factory where 1.7K migrants were being held. They wanted to request asylum at the nearby Texas port of entry, but were either not allowed to leave the shelter or told to put their name on a long waiting list.
houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

.@realdondaldtrump's promise for a wall has forced two government shutdowns and an emergency declaration in the name of border security. But advocates say his administration has done more to block access to the U.S. southern border than any barrier — concrete or steel.

Even without a new pilot returning asylum seekers to Mexico, (challenged by @aclu) advocates say the administration since last summer has effectively kept many in Mexico by slowing the number processed to a relative trickle at many ports of entry.

“When you look at the whole picture of what the Trump administration is trying to do at the southern border it would effectively shut down asylum, Their policies are very effectively building a wall.”

“They stopped preventing people on U.S. territory from asking for asylum and did something legally murkier, which a lot of people still say is illegal, and just don’t let you step foot on U.S. territory. From Tijuana to Matamoros, this became kind of the standard response.”

This is Alex. He & his 9-month-old have been detained at the shelter for two weeks. He said it's cold, people are sick, and scuffles have erupted with police. He wants to return to Indiana, where he lived for 14 years, but doesn't know what the Mexican government will do with him

Piedras Negras officials say they are shuttering the camp and letting those with humanitarian visas bus to other border cities to try their luck, or deporting the rest.
“This is a small city. It doesn't have the capacity to sustain this.”

The @realDonaldTrump admin says it wants migrants to ask for asylum LEGALLY, but here are how many were let through a day at ports of entry at the border's busiest crossing point for Central American families. @StraussCenter @Sleutert

It's also unclear how any plan making migrants wait in Mexico would work in Texas. Piedras Negras was the safest crossing, but much of the TX border is Tamaulipas, the only n. border state to carry the State Dept's most serious travel warning, a status it shares with Afghanistan.

Well that thread appears to have come out disjointed on my phone, (technology fail!) But here is the story that sums up how @realDonaldTrump has built a “wall” against many asylum seekers at legal ports:

houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…