How Biden's asylum restrictions affect migrants at California border

Children pass the time in a crowded area at a migrant shelter.

June 24, 2024 6:30 AM PT

Good morning. It’s Monday, June 24. I’m Andrea Castillo, and I cover federal immigration policy for The Times. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

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These migrants arrived at the California border just as Biden announced new asylum orders

Headlights shine through a tall fence in the dark.

I met Ze, a 27-year-old from China, earlier this month at a transit center in San Ysidro where he and other migrants had been dropped off by Border Patrol after crossing unlawfully into the United States.

I was there reporting on the immediate aftermath of the Biden administration’s executive order that raises the legal standard for asylum claims and blocks access to those crossing the border illegally when arrests average higher than 2,500 a day.

The move defies national and international law, which allows for the pursuit of asylum regardless of how someone arrives on U.S. soil. But immigration is at the forefront of the presidential election, and polls have shown many voters are concerned about the issue.

Migrants arrived exhausted and confused about how the process would work. Many hadn’t heard of the changes.

San Diego, where the vast majority of Chinese migrants arrive, had recently surpassed Texas as one of the top regions for arrivals along the southern border for the first time in more than two decades.

Border Patrol said preliminary data since Biden’s announcement showed arrests had fallen by 25%. And May figures showed arrests fell to the third-lowest of any month during his presidency.

Like most Chinese migrants, Ze flew to Ecuador and made his way up through Central America and Mexico to the southern U.S. border. But starting next month, Chinese citizens can no longer enter Ecuador without a visa. The move could drastically lower the number of Chinese citizens able to reach the U.S.

Ze, who asked to be identified by a nickname because he is at risk of persecution as a Muslim member of the Hui ethnic minority, was taken into federal custody just before Biden’s order took effect.

But he hadn’t arrived at the California-Mexico border alone. His older brother was missing.

So Ze did what has become the norm for migrants who are released without their family members: He waited outside the transit center all day.

There are no public bathrooms — a grocery store nearby allows migrants to use the restroom if they buy something — and free food is scarce beyond the occasional pizza and snacks brought by volunteers and aid groups.

Border Patrol commonly separates family members during processing. Often they can reunite within days, but sometimes it takes weeks. Occasionally, some members are released into the U.S. while others are deported.

At the transit center where migrants are dropped off, humanitarian organizations usher them toward the local trolley and offer directions to the airport using free public transportation. Licensed and unlicensed taxis also wait for customers willing to pay inflated prices.

Ze had no idea whether or when his brother would be released. When more Border Patrol buses pulled up to the transit center, he watched expectantly for his brother to pop out. He didn’t.

Ze, who worked as a translator, speaks five languages including Hindi. He befriended Sam Patel, from India, who was waiting for his wife.

The two walked to a nearby Cricket Wireless, where Patel purchased a cellphone — he had been robbed, like many migrants, on his way to the border.

Around the back of the shop, in a rare moment of solitude, Ze knelt on the concrete for his third prayer of the day.

Patel, his phone now set up, finally reached his wife, who had spent the night at a shelter. She soon arrived in a taxi, and they rushed to embrace each other, tears streaming down their faces.

By 8 p.m., Ze somberly headed with them to San Diego International Airport. The Patels would soon get on a flight to South Carolina. Ze, meanwhile, spent a sleepless night seated in the baggage claim area with others who couldn’t get into local migrant shelters.

The next morning, he returned to the transit center to wait for his brother’s release. They reunited there that afternoon.

After another sleepless night at the airport, a friend purchased them flights to New York, where they joined other Chinese migrants in Flushing.

Ze said he looked forward to openly practicing Islam. Eid-al-Adha, one of the main Islamic holidays, was coming up. Next up on his to-do list: Find a lawyer, so he could apply for asylum, and get a job.

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And finally ... a great photo

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Today’s great photo is from Bronwyn Jamrok of Culver City: Mossbrae Falls in Dunsmuir.

Jamrok writes: “I didn’t know California could look like this! So much water and green! California never stops giving great surprises.”

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Andrea Castillo, reporter
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