Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

Amid U.S. Lockdowns, The Border Wall Construction Goes On

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

While much of the country has been on lockdown, construction of President Trump's border wall has continued.

For five generations Nayda Alvarez's family has owned property along the Rio Grande near Rio Grande City, Texas. Alvarez says that if the border wall were built as laid out in preliminary maps, her house would end up about a yard away from it. This could mean that her house would have to be demolished in order to leave the 150-foot enforcement zone clear for surveillance.

'It's Infuriating': Critics Say Border Wall Still Going Up When They Can't Protest

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

The Trump administration has accelerated some efforts to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the president is using the pandemic to justify his push for it.

Central American migrants, sent from the United States, walk out in the streets of Guatemala City after arriving at the airport on Feb. 13, 2020. When asylum-seekers land in Guatemala, they are processed by immigration and asked if they want to stay in Guatemala or return to their countries. They are given 72 hours to decide.

National headlines

Asylum-Seekers Reaching U.S. Border Are Being Flown To Guatemala

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

Hundreds of asylum-seekers are not getting a chance to make their case in U.S. immigration court. Instead, the migrants are put on planes to Guatemala and told to ask for asylum there.

International headlines

Worries Over Migrants' Mental Health

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

Aid workers are worried about a mental health crisis on the border. Thousands of migrants are camped out in Mexican border towns, waiting to ask for asylum in the U.S. Many are becoming despondent.

Drying migrants clothes in an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. More than 1,500 asylum-seekers are living in the tent encampment.

NPR Headlines

Mexican Official Tries To Move Asylum-Seekers Stuck In Tent Camps

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

At one point a child welfare official threatened to take custody of the kids and families refused to let them go. "I told them I couldn't, that I wouldn't let my kid go," one woman said.

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro walked with a group of asylum-seekers and their lawyers from Mexico to Texas on Monday. Hours later, CBP released the asylum-seekers back into Mexico.

NPR Headlines

12 Asylum-Seekers Julián Castro Escorted To The U.S. Border Sent Back To Mexico

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Eric Marrapodi

The asylum-seekers, who were in Matamoros, Mexico, because of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols policy, said they faced violence and harassment because they identify as LGBTQ.

Pedestrians on the Puerta Mexico bridge, which crosses the Rio Grande, wait to enter Brownsville, Texas, at a legal port of entry in Matamoros, Mexico, in August.

National headlines

ACLU Calls On Homeland Security To Stop Turning Away Pregnant Asylum-Seekers

Reynaldo Leaños Jr., Reynaldo Leaños Jr.

Attorneys for the organization say vulnerable populations are supposed to be excluded from the groups of asylum-seekers being sent back to Mexico to wait for their U.S. immigration court hearings.