Central American asylum-seekers refuse to return home in spite of deportation

Migrants express hope for end of Title 42

REYNOSA, Mexico (KYMA, KECY) - Many Central American migrants who want to claim asylum in the United States say they won't go home, even after being deported under a Trump-era health order.

Hundreds of families remained camped out along the border near McAllen, Texas. Most live in tents or crude shelters as they wait for a chance to enter the U.S. to file their asylum claims. Many say they'd face violence and discrimination if they returned to their home countries.

Most asylum-seekers hope President Joe Biden will end Title 42. That's the order issued by former President Donald Trump that allows officials to quickly expel migrants to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Five months into the Biden presidency, little has changed for migrants in tent cities along the border. Advocates for the asylum-seekers say they're disappointed.

"We believe that it is possible to protect public health, of the US in this case, or public health as well as protect that ability to seek asylum and seek access to territory in terms of the claims to asylum," said Kelly Clements, a United Nations Deputy High Commissioner For Refugees. "So we believe that it is time to end Title 42."

A White House spokesperson defends Title 42 calling it a public health directive, and saying was necessary to prevent the further spread of COVID 19. The Biden administration says it is not an immigration enforcement tool, and is not being used as such.