Every day, immigrants from all over the world make their way to the U.S. border in hopes of making a case for political asylum, arguing they cannot return to their home country because of persecution for their religion, sexuality, political ideologies and more. But as the Trump administration seeks to massively curb down immigration, these migrants are increasingly being turned away, left scrambling to figure out what comes next.
The new practice came into being on the very first day of President Donald Trump's second administration, Jan. 20, when he signed an executive order suspending the asylum system in efforts to stop what he called the "invasion" of the U.S.
The order has left migrants at the borders in a murky situation, facing confusing processes with few obvious rules, where people can be deported to countries they are unfamiliar with, according to ABC News.
"They didn't give us an ICE officer to talk to. They didn't give us an interview. No one asked me what happened," said a Russian election worker who sought asylum in the U.S. after he said he was caught with video recordings he made of vote rigging. On Feb. 26, he was deported to Costa Rica with his wife and young son.
The Russian man and his family were just some of the 200 migrants deported to the Central American country earlier this year. Some other 300 were sent to Panama.
The Trump administration has said in efforts to accelerate deportation, it would consider countries like Costa Rica and Panama as "bridges," where they can temporarily detain deportees while they await return to their countries or origin or third countries. The administration has also ramped up plans of deals with "third countries" like El Salvador, Rwanda and Libya, which have accepted (or are in the process of making agreements) migrants whose countries are not welcoming U.S. deportations.
Border apprehensions have plummeted dramatically since Trump took office, yet still more than 200 people are arrested daily for crossing the U.S. southern border unlawfully. Many of these migrants go to the region seeking asylum, though it is unclear if anyone knows how many.
Paulina Reyes-Perrariz, managing attorney for the San Diego office of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, says her office has only received a handful of calls ever since Trump took office. Yet many of the lawyers remain unsure how to handle asylum cases.
"It's really difficult to consult and advise with individuals when we don't know what the process is," she told ABC News.
Immigration advocates have long criticized Trump's executive order, saying it is not only illegal, but also a violation of human rights. A coalition of nonprofits recently interviewed dozens of asylum-seekers scattered throughout Mexico due to the U.S. new policies. The report documents several cases of migrants who turned themselves in to U.S. authorities to claim political asylum and were instead turned back, detained or handed over to Mexican authorities who bused them to southern Mexico, highlighting the hardships migrants continue to face in the aftermath of the Trump administration's policies.
"They robbed us, they left us naked," a Costa Rican migrant identified as "Gerardo," told the nonprofits. Later, the migrant and his group managed to get on a bus. "That is when police robbed us on the bus. After the robberies, they knew we no longer had money. The bus stopped at a checkpoint and handed us over," to Mexican immigration agents.
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