Supplemental Declaration of Erika Pinheiro — East Bay Sanctuary v. Trump

Summary

Erika Pinheiro's supplemental declaration, filed 11/16/18 in East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump (No. 4:18-cv-06810-JST), states that Grupo Beta, a service of Mexico's National Institute of Migration, would not put unaccompanied minors without a parent and original identity documents on the list to cross at a port of entry, and that since the November 2018 rule children who enter without inspection can no longer apply for asylum. Al Otro Lado was advising nine children in Tijuana, five of the children from Honduras who identify as LGBT, spent three to four hours accompanying one to two children, and had not received a single referral for the bond cases funded by the California Department of Social Services since the rule took effect.

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Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST   Document 35-8   Filed 11/16/18   Page 1 of 6
SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF ERIKA PINHEIRO

I, Erika Pinheiro, under the penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, deciare as
follows:

1. I make this declaration based on my personal knowledge except where I have
indicated otherwise. If called as a witness. I would testify competently and truthfully to these
matters.

2. I submit this declaration to supplement my previous declaration in East Bay
Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump, which was executed on November 9, 2018.

3. The implementation of the interim final rule, “Aliens Subject to a Bar on Entry
Under Certain Presidential Proclamations; Procedures for Protection Claims,” and the
Presidential Proclamation Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern Border of the
United States has created a crisis situation for Al Otro Lado.

4. In recent weeks, Grupo Beta, a service by the National Institute of Migration of
Mexico, has refused to allow unaccompanied minors who have journeyed to the southern border
to seek asylum to get on the list to cross the border at a port of entry. Al Otro Lado has been told
that if these children show up at the port of entry and attempt to get on the list, they will be taken
into custody by the Mexican child custody agency.

5. For example, Al Otro Lado is working with a child named BI, a sixteen year old
boy from Mexico, who left his home along with his sister to escape from violent abuse they had
been suffering from years. On November 1, 2018, BI. and his sister went to a port of entry
(“POE”), but the U.S. officials would not let them pass into the United States. Instead, the

officials held B.I. and his sister in the POE for several hours, and then moved them to a cell in a
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST   Document 35-8   Filed 11/16/18   Page 2 of 6
different building, where they stayed for about 18 hours. After speaking briefly with an official
from the Mexican consulate, B.I. and his sister were deported back to Tijuana without ever
having been given the opportunity to apply for asylum, despite the fact that they indicated that
they wanted to apply for asylum.

6. On November 6, 2018, B.I. and his sister went to a different POE. Rigo, a staff
snember at Al Otro Lado, went with them. Grupo Beta, the group organizing the list of asylum
seekers at the POE, told Rigo and B.I. that children could not get on the list unless they had
original identity documents and were accompanied by a parent. B.I. was unaccompanied and did
not have original documents with him. Grupo Beta also said that if anv unaccompanied children
tried to get on the list, they will be taken into custody by the Mexican child custody agency.

7. B.I. has no family he can live with safely in Mexico. He does not feel safe
staying in Mexico. He wants to apply for asylum in the United States. He is worried that if he
goes back to a port of entry, he will be unable to get on the list to apply for asylum.

8. Al Otro Lado is also working with another unaccompanied minor, D.D., who had
the same experience when an Al Otro Lado staff member went with her to a POE so that she
could get in line to apply for asylum. D.D. is fifteen years old and fled El Salvador to escape her
grandfather’s sexual abuse.

9 D.D. left El Salvador in the middle of October 2018. It took her about three
weeks to travel irom Ei Salvador to Tijuana. When she got to Tijuana, she went to El Chaparral
plaza near the San Ysidro port of entry. People she was traveling with told her she had to go get

a number in order to apply for asylum in the United States. She went to the plaza and showed

WN
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST   Document 35-8   Filed 11/16/18   Page 3 of 6
her identity documents, and the people in charge of the list gave her a number. She waited at a
shelter for youth in Tijuana called Casa Imca.

10. On November 6, 2018, Rigo from Al Otro Lado went with D.D. to El Chaparral
plaza. The people organizing the list of asylum seekers told Rigo and me that unaccompanied
minors could not get on the list unless they had original identity documents and were
accompanied by a parent. D.D. was not accompanied by her parents.

11. DD. is afraid to return to El Salvador because her family there now knows about
the sexual abuse she suffered. She is afraid that she would be in danger from her grandfather if
she returns. She hopes she will be allowed to apply for asylum in the United States, but is
concerned because she was told that she cannot apply without her parents.

12. Before the new rule, those children who were refused entry at a port would then
enter the United States without inspection and turn themselves in to immigration authorities to
apply for asylum.

13. Since the new rule was announced on November 9, 2018, if these children enter
without inspection, they will not be able to apply for asylum. These children now have no way to
apply for asylum in the United States, and are effectively trapped in Mexico in dangerous border
towns, generally without any resources.

14. In the past, children not allowed on a list or not otherwise allowed to present at a
port of entry would have, out of necessity, entered between ports of entry in order to apply for
asylum.

15. Since the new rule was announced, Al Otro Lado has been overwhelmed with
children who traveled to the southern border of the United States to apply for asylum but now
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST   Document 35-8   Filed 11/16/18   Page 4 of 6
cannot do so. These children are very vulnerable, as they are unaccompanied and so have no one
to look out for them in Tijuana, a city currently seeing record levels of violence. Lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender unaccompanied minors are especially vulnerable.

16. Caring for these children is incredibly time consuming and causing a near
complete diversion of Al Otro Lado’s resources away from its core mission, which is providing
legal services. In addition to providing these children with legal advice, attending to the many
non-legal needs of Al Otro Lado’s unaccompanied children clients is forcing Al Otro Lado to
divert resources away from advising the many other clients who need the organization’s legal
help, thus undermining our ability to achieve our core mission. For example, staff members are
going with the children to try to get them on the list to cross at the port of entry. Staff have also
had to negotiate with Mexican officials so that they will not take these children into custody and
instead allow them to stay at a local youth shelter while Al Otro Lado determines the best way to
ensure that the children have access to a legal means to seek asylum in the United States.
Accompanying one to two children to do this takes three to four hours. One staff member has
been taking care of these children full-time for the past three days.

17. Al Otro Lado currently is providing legal advice and support to nine children in
Tijuana, Mexico, who wish to seek asylum in the United States. Five of these children are from
Honduras and identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender); they have strong asylum
claims.

18. Al Otro Lado was connected to these clients by Casa YMCA, a shelter where the

children are staying.
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST   Document 35-8   Filed 11/16/18   Page 5 of 6
19. These clients have tried to obtain a number to join the list to present themseives
for asylum, but Al Otro Lado has been told by Grupo Beta that the children need to have a parent
and original identity documents in order to present and that if they try to take a number thev will
oe taken into custody by Mexican officials.

20. These clients cannot be left alone in Tijuana because of the danger of
apprehension by Mexican officials. Al Otro Lado therefore has to accompany them anytime they
leave the shelter at which they are staying for legal proceedings. This effort is far beyond
anything Al Otro Lado usually does for its clients and has been a huge drain on Al Otro Lado’s
resources.

21. LGBT children cannot safely stay in Mexico. They are at risk of violence and
persecution. Yet there is now no way for them to access the asylum system in the United States.
Al Otro Lado’s staff members have been overwhelmed by work outside our core mission since
the new rule went into effect.

ed. The new rule also seriously jeopardizes a major source of Al Otro Lado’s funding.
Al Otro Lado receives funding from the California Department of Social Services to represent
detained immigrants in their bond proceedings. We have expended significant organizational
resources establishing referral systems with the Federal Public Defender office and Innovation
Law Lab’s Border X Project to receive cases of asylum seekers who have entered without
inspection. Al Otro Lado is required to complete a certain number of cases before the end of
next year. Since the rule went into effect, we have not received a single referral for a bond case,
as persons who enter without inspection are ostensibly being put into “Withholding-only”
proceedings and no longer initially eligible for bond. We will have to significantly remake our
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST   Document 35-8   Filed 11/16/18   Page 6 of 6
bond representation program to establish new referral sources, train staff on how to represent
other types of clients in bond proceedings, and revise all the templates and materials we currently
use in bond hearings for asylum seekers. This will cause an immediate diversion of a significant
amount of our resources, and potentially compromise our ability to comply with our obligations
under current funding.

23. The interim final rule mentions the caravan of migrants, primarily from Central
America, making their way to the United States. There have been several prior caravans in
recent years. None caused any serious danger or otherwise threatened public safety. Caravan

members typically seek admission at ports of entry.

I hereby declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Erika Pinheiro !

Executed this Ib. th day of November, 2018


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