In response to a lawsuit claiming that hundreds of asylum seekers were illegally turned away at San Diego ports of entry, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D.-Calif., has asked Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly for answers.
In a letter sent Monday, Feinstein asked for policy clarification, data on asylum seekers and what guidance has been given to Customs and Border Protection field officers since President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for tightening of policies for implementation of asylum law.
Under U.S. immigration law, if people say they are afraid to return to their home countries, border officials cannot send them back without passing them along to asylum officers to determine whether their asylum cases might be valid.
Claims of asylum seekers turned back at the border, particularly in the San Diego region, have surfaced since last summer, well before Trump took office. Those claims have increased in frequency since his inauguration. The allegations range from officials telling asylum seekers that the U.S. isn’t accepting any more asylum seekers to officials coercing them into withdrawing their claims.