Originally Posted by
FlyingDesi
I am sure there is a difference here. When you fear for your safety, you cannot just *go* to any other country. You have to be at their borders at a legal checkpoint and apply for asylum. While the asylum process is pending, the host country can detain the refugee claimant. The claimants have to prove a credible and documented threat to their life. They cannot say that Mexico is filled with criminals, I might get shot 20 years later so I am here. Same way I cannot say, there have been bombings in various public places in India, I am scared I will be caught in one of them, hence I am applying for asylum.
A difference where? The Honduran and Salvadoran refugees arriving at US Borders ARE fleeing a genuine threat, and you have not claimed otherwise. No one has said that they cannot be detained while their asylum claims are pending. But the fact that they can can legally be detained does not make their presence in the country illegal, even if their claims are ultimately denied. A claimant of refugee status arrives as a claimant. If due proces is properly observed, they are processed and ultimately given a hearing. One potential outcome of that hearing is that their claim is denied and they are deported back to thei home country. But even in such a case, at no point has this claimant ever broken any law or been otherwise "illegal" as others on this board insinuate. There is nothing "illegal" about applying for asylum and having your claim denied.