In its chaotic legal limbo, the Trump administration has been actively working to try to determine where you might safely seek asylum and why. Their goal is to identify as many as 18,000 refugees seeking to join family members in the United States, who in turn could help the government identify one of the country’s border with Mexico as “permittable.” The reality, however, is that it’s hard to know what’s happening if you’re living across the world and unable to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement, border patrol or anybody in the United States. The folks at AsylumTruth.org are in touch with many of the refugees in their network who work closely with the groups that administer the Ewa Puig Hernandez Belknap Program for processing refugees (the agency was named after the U.S. Judge who founded the program in 2005), as well as individuals who have taken part in the centers that offer the chance to apply for asylum.
Since you can’t get in touch with ICE, this list of places you could apply is the next best thing to knowing where to go. But don’t despair! You may also know other places that could help you, such as private refugee attorneys, groups like the YWCA in Guatemala City or media outlets like NPR or NPR News. There are also asylum service groups like the Houston Metropolitan Refugee Service in Texas, and attorneys at the Mexico Immigration Legal Clinic in Santa Ana, Calif.
