More Migrants Are Crossing the Border This Year. What’s Changed? – The New York Times

Zero tolerance didn’t work

In the spring of 2018, the Trump administration tried to discourage parents from traveling with a child by prosecuting everyone who crossed the border illegally, even those who were traveling with children — a policy known as zero tolerance. This resulted in children being removed from their parents and placed in shelters across the country.

The policy drew widespread condemnation, prompting the president to halt the practice in late June. But Customs and Border Protection officials believe that the various legal rulings preventing families from being detained have helped solidify the message to smugglers, who roam villages offering to guide people to the United States, that adults who come with a child are protected from deportation.

It’s not that easy to get asylum, though

Whether they sneak into the country in remote areas or enter the country through a port of entry, most migrants are trying to petition for asylum.

In 2008, just under 5,000 applicants claimed they had a credible fear of persecution, the first legal step toward obtaining asylum, to avoid being returned to their homeland. Last year, nearly 100,000 claimed a credible fear.

The Trump administration contends that people are flooding the asylum system with invalid claims.

In recent years, immigration judges have granted less than 20 percent of asylum requests, a proportion that is even lower for Central Americans.

Many asylum seekers from Central America claim they have been victims of gangs, which is harder to prove than political and other types of persecution. Poverty is not among the grounds for receiving asylum.

If they are denied, asylum seekers can be deported. But since many are released while their case is pending, some never return to court and evade deportation.