Jewish Family Service receives families and adults who are coming into the United States from the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program as well as asylum seekers released by Border Patrol into San Diego.

In this video segment, we learn more about migrant families at the border from dangerous conditions, confusing policies, to never letting go of hope. Eitan Peled, JFS Border Services Advocate, is interviewed.

As the Biden administration urges people not to migrate north to the U.S. border, the situation for asylum seekers who have been waiting at the border is a situation of growing confusion. Kate Morrissey of The San Diego Union Tribune reports the situation and details the increased arrival numbers we are experiencing in this Sunday frontpage article. Morrissey writes, “Many of these migrants, particularly Cubans, have been released to the Jewish Family Service shelter (services), amplifying a need for more volunteers and more staff to safely manage the new arrivals.”

A Q&A with Jewish Family Service of San Diego’s Kate Clark, senior director of immigration services, about their legal and advocacy work for families seeking asylum in the United States.

Gerson handed the border officer his Honduran passport and placed his fingertips on a small scanner. This was the last hurdle before his family could escape the kidnapping, threats, and extortion they had endured in Mexico while trying to gain asylum in the US. Now, he and hundreds of other asylum-seekers who spent months holding onto a sliver of hope while being forced by the Trump administration to wait in Mexico are entering the US. Kate Clark, the senior director of immigration services at Jewish Family Service of San Diego, said the group has taken in nearly 300 people who were previously stuck in Mexico under the Trump administration policy.

Stuck in Mexico for nearly a year under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, asylum seeker Nicholas was finally able to cross into the United States, thanks to an executive order from President Joe Biden. Featuring an interview with CEO Michael Hopkins.

Esperanzas infundadas, siguen llegando inmigrantes a una frontera estadounidense que no se abre; familias separadas en la frontera, una nueva controversia en Estados Unidos; se refuerza la batalla para producir más vacunas para los estadounidenses y el Departamento de Estado emite informe con la clasificación de países que fracasaron en la lucha antidrogas.

After migrants, having traveled thousands of miles, or waited in Mexico for months or years, are met by Jewish Family Service (JFS) in San Diego, a group that is part of the California Welcoming Task Force and the San Diego Rapid Response Network, which supports all migrants that are processed into San Diego before heading to their final destination.”

CEO Michael Hopkins is interviewed in this coverage of the first 25 Latin American asylum seekers who were granted entry at the San Ysidro port of entry and will be allowed to stay in the country for the duration of their proceedings. The Jewish Family Service of San Diego received the asylum applicants, who were required to test negative for the coronavirus, and transported them to a hotel in the area so they could quarantine, according to the non-profit’s chief executive officer, Michael Hopkins. The group included six families and five individuals from Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Cuba.

U.S. unwinds Trump policy making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico CEO Michael Hopkins is interviewed in this article focusing on the first day of asylum-seekers being released from Remain in Mexico and allowed to enter the U.S.

Two years and 21 days after the first asylum seeker was walked back from San Diego to Tijuana under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, a small group of asylum seekers was escorted in the other direction to wait out immigration court cases in the United States. CEO Michael Hopkins said, “This is a really different experience than 2½ years ago, when we got the call on our hotline that moms and kids were on the streets of San Diego.”

“We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration and we are optimistic that this is the first of many steps to rebuild our immigration system and restore the asylum process,” said JFS and its partners in the San Diego Rapid Response Network.

Un grupo de 25 migrantes que cruzaron por la frontera de San Diego y Tijuana estuvieron entre los primeros solicitantes de asilo que se les permitió entrar a Estados Unidos bajo los nuevos cambios de la administración Biden que comenzaron este viernes.

At least 25 migrants who have been waiting in Mexico for months while they seek asylum in the U.S. have been allowed into the country, part of the Biden administration efforts to roll back the Trump-era policy known as “Remain in Mexico.” CEO Michael Hopkins is interviewed.

A group of 25 asylum seekers was allowed into the United States on Friday, a United Nations official said, the start of efforts to unwind one of former President Donald Trump’s most restrictive immigration policies, which forced thousands to wait in Mexico for their U.S. cases to be heard. Jewish Family Service will provide services to the migrants once they are in the U.S.

CEO Michael Hopkins speaks on behalf of Jewish Family Service’s efforts as part of the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) to provide services for many more asylum seekers as the numbers start to increase.

Biden administration officials had stressed in English and Spanish communications that only people contacted ahead of time would be allowed in Friday while others needed to register online and wait. A San Diego aid group working with the returning migrants said they received a total of 25 people Friday.

Once migrants crossed the border, organizations in the region took over, including Jewish Family Service, a non-profit organization that works with migrants and has a leading role in the effort.

The asylum seekers who arrived Friday were transported to a hotel in San Diego where they’ll quarantine for a period before relocating, said Michael Hopkins, CEO of Jewish Family Service of San Diego.

Advocates point to misleading media reports, rumors and smugglers’ lies encouraging asylum seekers to try crossing before policy changes are in place. In the past week or so, the number of families received by Jewish Family Service has increased, though the numbers are still much lower than other times in the shelters’ history. Most of these additional families were caught crossing illegally into the United States by Border Patrol, according to Kate Clark of Jewish Family Service. Kate Clark and Luis Gonzalez, both members of JFS’s immigration team are interviewed.

The Biden Administration announced plans to allow tens of thousands of asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico for their next immigration court hearings into the United States while their cases proceed. Jewish Family Service of San Diego housed 191 asylum-seekers the first 10 days of February after they were released by U.S. authorities, up from 144 in January and 54 in December, said Eitan Peled, JFS’s border services advocate.

Since January, hundreds of migrant families seeking asylum have found themselves north of the border after being released by Border Patrol agents. JFS is leading the response in San Diego, together with our partners at the San Diego Rapid Response Network. Interview with JFS Border Service Advocate, Eitan Peled.

Llegan más a la frontera. Incluye una entrevista con Kate Clark del equipo de inmigración de Jewish Family Service.

At least 11 migrant women sent to Mexico border towns without birth certificates for newborns since last March. Luis M. Gonzalez, JFS Immigration Attorney, is interviewed.

Our work to restore and rebuild our nation’s asylum system is featured in a front-page article in The New York Times. With our partners in the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN), we have forged a system to “welcome the stranger” unlike any other in the country and are fighting hard to re-envision and rebuild the process for asylum seekers arriving along our border. And now, as The New York Times article reports, San Diego is a model for how justly welcome asylum seekers while protecting public health during a pandemic. Kate Clark, Senior Director of Immigration, is interviewed.

There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. We look forward to collaborating with the Biden-Harris administration and our partner advocates throughout the California Welcoming Task Force to rebuild our nation’s rich tradition of helping those who are fleeing danger and seeking a better life.

The changes to how immigrant families are being processed appear to only be happening in some parts of the border. JFS’s Senior Director of Immigration, Kate Clark, reports a sizeable increase in asylum seekers in January compared to the past ten months.