African asylum seekers in limbo

Yves Kaduli

Yves Kaduli, Congolese doctor, says he fled his country after being kidnapped and tortured

For the growing number of African asylum seekers and economic migrants in the United States, the upcoming presidential election could reshape their entire future.

We deserve safety, says Dr. Yves Kaduli, a 38-year-old asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo who lives in the United States.

“I dream of defending those who are persecuted,” he adds in an interview with the BBC.

Dr Kaduli claims that in 2014 he fled the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, ravaged by conflict for almost three decades, after being kidnapped and tortured.

He worked as a doctor at Cifunzi Hospital in the town of Kalonge and saw the effects of the conflict up close.

Women were raped. I saw it. I felt it in my body,” he told the BBC.

Dr Kaduli says that horrified by civilian casualties, he and many of his colleagues, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Denis Mukwege, participated in protests against killings and rapes by armed groups, criticizing the government of then-president Joseph Kabila for its inability to guarantee people's security.

The doctor claims this led to him being targeted by unknown people.

They came, took me and another colleague by force during our night shift, Dr Kaduli recalled, adding that they were then taken to a makeshift camp in a nearby forest where they been beaten, tortured and threatened with death.

Dr Kaduli claims that after being detained for a day, he managed to escape and decided he needed to come out.

Leaving behind his mother and young son, Dr. Kaduli said he began what would be a five-year journey, first passing through neighboring Rwanda, then flying to Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and finally arriving at the US-Mexico border in 2019.

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People are living in temporary shelters in Mexico while waiting to enter the United States.

I stayed at the border for at least a month, we lived in small tents in inhumane conditions.

Dr Kaduli claims he then managed to cross the border into the United States and was detained for 15 months before being released.

He now lives in Virginia and works as a medical technician, awaiting a decision on his asylum case.

Dr Kaduli is one of thousands of African migrants who, against all odds, make the long journey to reach the US-Mexico border each year. This is a figure that is increasing.

But while many Americans say immigration is a top concern in this election, and both candidates promise to crack down on the border, African asylum seekers fear the public will turn against them.

We see our politicians criminalizing our status, demonizing our community and as president they can decide our future, Dr Kaduli told the BBC.

In 2022, approximately 13,000 African migrants were registered at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. By 2023, this figure had quadrupled to 58,000.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports a sharp increase in asylum requests from West African countries such as Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea since 2022 at the same time. border.

New asylum applications from Senegalese nationals alone increased from 773 in 2022 to 13,224 in 2024.

Although relatively stable, more than a third of Senegal's population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.

A growing number of young Senegalese are choosing to migrate to the United States rather than take the more dangerous route to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

They opt for an increasingly popular route – shared on social networks, notably TikTok – via Nicaragua, a visa-free country.

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Donald Trump uses harsh rhetoric against immigrants in an attempt to win votes.

In September 2023, more than 140 Senegalese were expelled from their country after crossing the border between Mexico and the United States.

People come to the United States for a variety of reasons, says Kathleen Bush-Joseph of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank funded by research grants and foundations.

“People can flee persecution and economic circumstances that make it difficult to feed their children. There are incentives to apply for asylum because they can get a work permit while they wait, which can really appeal to people looking to improve their lives. “, she said.

Successfully seeking asylum in the United States is particularly difficult for African migrants.

Language barriers, a lack of community upon arrival and a lack of awareness of African conflicts make the rigorous process even more difficult for Africans, Ms. Bush-Joseph says.

Judges and lawyers often don't know the situation in some African countries that people are fleeing, she told the BBC.

There are also risks for those who are evicted.

In 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report claiming that dozens of Cameroonian asylum seekers had been imprisoned, tortured and raped after being returned from the US border.

People were expelled directly into harm and persecution and in contexts of ongoing conflicts and widespread human rights violations, Lauren Seigbert, a researcher at HRW, told the BBC.

It's just a huge risk to send people away, she adds.

Reuters

Kamala Harris vowed to revive border security bill

Nils Kinuani, federal policy manager at African Communities Together, an organization that supports African asylum seekers and refugees in the United States, says the rhetoric around immigration on the campaign trail has sparked great fear among of his community.

People are afraid. There are fears that refugee programs could be attacked, Kinuani said.

His organization and others are calling for more legal avenues to help African migrants terrified of being deported.

One option is humanitarian parole status, a legal protection for foreign nationals from countries facing crises such as conflict or natural disasters.

It may be issued by the U.S. government to allow at-risk individuals to temporarily live and work in the United States. Current programs include Ukraine, Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela and Afghanistan.

There is no official humanitarian parole program between the United States and any African country.

Mr Kinuani adds that there is some resentment over the way Ukrainian refugees have been treated compared to other nationalities.

Just weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, nationals fleeing the conflict could apply for parole on humanitarian grounds, he said.

Ukrainian communities did not even need to request or advocate for humanitarian parole. For a country like Sudan, we have to put pressure on it.

Since April 2023, the ongoing war in Sudan has forced nine million people from their homes.

Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have placed immigration control and resolving the U.S.-Mexico border crisis at the top of their list of campaign promises.

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Many African migrants struggle to obtain housing and work papers in the United States

If elected, Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump would lead the largest deportation operation in American history and restore border policies reminiscent of his first term, according to the Republican National Committee's official 2024 platform.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to revive a bipartisan border security bill that failed in Congress earlier this year.

The bill would increase asylum staff and ensure a faster and fairer asylum process, according to the White House.

But the measure has been criticized by human rights groups and the UN.

The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden — of which Harris is a part — has already taken steps to crack down on migrants at the border.

Under an executive order issued in June, authorities can quickly expel migrants entering the United States illegally without processing their asylum applications once a daily threshold is reached and the border is “overwhelmed.”

That has led to a sharp drop in the number of people trying to enter the United States through the border, according to U.S. officials.

For the first time in nearly two decades, more than half of Americans want to see immigration levels to the United States reduced, rather than keeping them at their current level or increasing them, suggests a recent poll by the global analytics and consulting company Gallup.

In the United States, there is a growing awareness that the asylum system is overwhelmed and that people are filing applications because there are no other ways to come to the United States, says Ms. Bush. Joseph.

The frustration people feel with the dysfunction of the U.S. immigration system means there is concern about the number of people seeking asylum. »

For now, Dr. Kaduli is stuck in limbo and could wait four to ten years before a decision on his asylum application is made.

He says that his father died a few years ago, but his current status does not allow him to leave the country to see his family.

I feel uncomfortable when my case is still ongoing and I see politicians' speeches on television, but I know that if I am here, it is for a reason, he said.

His ultimate hope is that one day his son and his mother will join him in the United States.

I believe that America will give me the same values, working for myself, helping my family, participating in the economy of this country, so I am between doubt and hope.

North American correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his biweekly newsletter US Election Unspun. UK readers can subscribe here. Those outside the UK can register here.

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