Thread by @BetoORourke

I walked across the Paso del Norte bridge and into Mexico this morning to meet with kids and families who came to our country seeking asylum but who have been turned back by this administration's unlawful and inhumane policies.

This is who we are keeping out:

I spoke with a mom who faced violence, kidnapping, and threats to her 10-year-old's life in Honduras. They traveled atop, not inside of, a train known as La Bestia and fell off on the journey. They've been in Juárez 4 months and don't have their U.S. court appointment until Sept.

She had a business in Honduras, a home, and a school her daughter liked. She didn't want to leave -- she had to. She made the decision that I would make it if I were in the same situation with Molly, to come here and seek safety. I think it's what any parent would do.

Met a 19-year-old who was separated from her family when they traveled to the border seeking refuge from El Salvador. She has already been waiting in Juárez for 3 months but her court date isn't for another. She has no legal help and doesn't know if she'll see her siblings again.

Spoke with a father from El Salvador who was at work when gang members showed up and demanded he give them ransom or else they'd kill his young son. He went to the police but they responded by telling him it was best for his family to leave because they couldn’t protect him.

So he walked much of the 2,000 mile journey with his son on his shoulders. He lost his shoes along the way. Another person traveling with him fell ill and died on the journey -- one of the thousands of asylum seekers to die while trying to come to the U.S. to escape violence.

Another mom I met was a victim of domestic violence. She showed me the injuries that she & her 3 children sustained back home. When she made it our border, she was told to wait in Mexico. She kept telling me how afraid she was but that she just wants to make it okay for her kids.

In addition to this administration's inhumane policies, they overturned asylum protections for domestic abuse survivors. That means this mother and her three children are forced to wait for months to even begin the process of petitioning for asylum and having their case heard.

The wealthiest, the most powerful country on the face of the planet is turning these families away from a land comprised of refugees and asylum seekers the world over. This can't be us. This can't be America. But right now, it's America and it's on all of us to make this right.

We must end the Remain in Mexico policy, end metering, end family separation, and end the detention of those who pose absolutely no threat. But we must go far beyond that and fix the entire system.

Earlier this year, I wrote a plan to accomplish this:
betoorourke.com/immigration/