Asylum seekers have been protesting at immigration detention centers around the country for months, advocating for their release. But sit-ins, written complaints and other forms of dissent have done little to help their cause. Now, some of them are resorting to hurting themselves to bring attention to their immigration cases, according to detainees, an advocate and a federal official.
By Alexandra Villarreal
“This is what they’re having to do to get heard,” said Margaret Brown Vega, a volunteer with New Mexico-based Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention in the Chihuahuan Desert.
There are two avenues through which asylum seekers can get out of detention while they pursue refuge in the United States, bond or parole. Both have become more difficult to obtain because of the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.
This spring, Attorney General William Barr attempted to eliminate bond hearings for asylum seekers, but a judge blocked the policy change nationwide. That decision is under review by the ninth circuit. Meanwhile, bond amounts have been on the rise for the last decade — even before Trump took office. The median bond in fiscal year 2019 was $8,000, up from $5,000 in 2009, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
“This is what they’re having to do to get heard,” said Margaret Brown Vega, a volunteer with New Mexico-based Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention in the Chihuahuan Desert.
There are two avenues through which asylum seekers can get out of detention while they pursue refuge in the United States, bond or parole. Both have become more difficult to obtain because of the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.
This spring, Attorney General William Barr attempted to eliminate bond hearings for asylum seekers, but a judge blocked the policy change nationwide. That decision is under review by the ninth circuit. Meanwhile, bond amounts have been on the rise for the last decade — even before Trump took office. The median bond in fiscal year 2019 was $8,000, up from $5,000 in 2009, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
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