In the last 16 times, near to 40, 000 fresh refugees have arrived in Denver. Many of them are fleeing Venezuela, where the after oil- centered business has collapsed since 2014 under the totalitarian leadership of President Nicolas Maduro. About a quarter of Venezuela’s community has since then, or roughly 8 million.
About 82 % of Venezuelans have emigrated to other Latin American and Caribbean nations, but the majority of those countries ‘ economies have also deteriorated in recent years. For the approximately 10 percent who make it through the Darien Gap—a trip hundreds of miles northwest to the US Southern frontier, they face a full new set of often life- disturbing obstacles.
Alexis Kenyon from KGNU spoke with immigration lawyer Zachary New from Joseph and Hall  in Aurora. According to New, the US has made an effort to manage and maintain order at this frontier crossing. However, because the efforts have been rolled out thus hastily, more often than not, there is no great way to enter the US if you are a Spanish National immigrant.
Text OF AN Discussion:
Zachary New: Let’s start with the fact that you’ve crossed the US borders. Then, you’re faced with this kind of situation.
You must apply CBP1 to access this game. You must obtain one freely present yourself to Customs and Border Protection and obtain prison because there are 1,500 sessions for the entire southern border. Thus, you have about a 1 in 5 chance of getting an interview everyday.
And in the interim, they are stranded on the other side of the border to Mexico, where they are quite likely to not have citizenship and could be deported again to Venezuela where they fear true death and, you know, many terrible things that could happen to them.
However, if you were able to get this visit, you would go to a Customs and Border Protection agent. You say,” I would like to request asylum”. You must demonstrate that you have a well-founded fear, which is the absence of evidence that it is honestly reasonable and honestly true that you are afraid of being attacked for your race, religion, nationality, political views, or membership in particular social groups.
If you do n’t fit into one of those, you wo n’t be granted asylum, and you’ll be turned around and essentially deported there. If you’re this claim, coming because you’re weak and you want a better life for yourself and your family. You would be turned round right away, which is not an hospital state, though.
Alexis Kenyon: This Customs and Border Protection official decides whether you are eligible for hospital or not.
Zachary New: They determine if you have a possible claim for prison. The first true problem then, though, is that there are so many cases in our immigration judge system that it might take years before you actually appear in court.
In the meantime, you’re in the United States and have not gotten a job license for at least the initial six months. So that’s where this second kind of roadblock comes in.
You get your work license after six months of waiting around, assuming all goes smoothly. You are now in the immigration judge system at that point.
You will go and present yourself in front of an immigration assess you get scheduled for what’s essentially a test. There are no privately commissioned by the state. But, either they pay for a private attorney themselves, or they find someone willing to represent them in court, bringing witnesses, supporting facts, etc., as you would expect in a test situation where there is no judge present, or they are presenting their asylum claim to a determine against a government attorney.
Alexis Kenyon: So I want to speak about this waiting period when people are in Mexico trying to get an interview because I think it’s actually difficult to understand how harmful and terrifying that period of time may be. I had a conversation with a person a few weeks ago and she told me her story. I want to enjoy that video for you.
She spoke to me in Spanish through a speaker, Elena Klaver.
Gleidys: When I arrived in Juarez, a group began to beat up all the members of our group in an effort to steal them. And because of my scalp and that of my daughter, they wanted to murder us. We were the only people that were there, the different people, the people that were beaten up, they defended us and while they were beating them up, they yelled run, cross. I ran, then. At gate 36, I ran and crossed over. And when I crossed over, an immigration agent put his weapon in my face like he was going to shoot me. My daughter crossed the river while I was paralyzed. My arms and my legs were completely cut by the barbed wire when I crossed over, and my daughter was also. See, I have a lot of scars. God was always with us. We nearly died so many times.
Zachary New: Yeah, and that’s not an uncommon story by any means. The risk that women and young girls face as they wait in camps is one of the main reasons we see people cross the border without waiting for that CBP1 appointment. They are unsafe because they must wait until the CBP1 app is operational before scheduling an appointment at the southern border.
So, we hear stories of people being thrown off the border wall to distract CBP while others sneak into the U. S. And this is something that is n’t understood enough about why they do n’t just wait in line. It’s because the line is extremely dangerous. And so it’s sometimes preferable to cross the river, present yourself, and go through the legal process here in the United States, even if it’s not exactly what Americans would prefer to do. Cause the alternative is horrible things happening to them.
Alexis Kenyon: Yeah. What happens to people who are not legally entering the United States, like the women I spoke with? What can you do?
Zachary New: I mean, there are a number of nonprofits currently conducting a lot of pro bono work and workshops to try to assist people in this situation. I’ll say that applying for asylum is free because there is no cost involved. Um, that initial work permit application after that first asylum application has been made is also free.
Alexis Kenyon: I want to clarify because I think it’s a little murky. A new immigrant’s chances of receiving asylum are increased by entering the United States illegally. However, new immigrants can and should still apply for asylum even if they came here illegally, as soon as they can, because the day you file, you begin to count down the days until you can then apply for a work permit. In the interim, it might take years before your asylum application is even heard by a judge. Therefore, the asylum clock begins when you submit the application and have to wait six months before you can work legally.
Zachary New:  ,  , Yeah. So, I mean, that’s really the big price for those six months. You are aware of how to survive for six months if you do n’t know anyone in the United States who can assist you. You do n’t have family, not able to work, do n’t have anywhere to live, you do n’t have friends, and that’s where a lot of these NGOs and other entities really are coming into play and stepping up.
Denver is also doing a very good job of that. They were given an anonymous donation to create programs like these temporary protected status and asylum workshops to assist people applying for various forms of relief.
Alexis Kenyon: For listeners who are interested, we have links BELOW to many of these workshops on our website. Additionally, there is information on a temporary protected status visa, which might be useful if you’re looking to apply for asylum. Additionally, Denver has a number of other nonprofits and resources in particular.
But at the end of the day, Zach, I mean, many new immigrants find themselves without any real legal path forward. Can you provide me with information on how these people are treated?
Zachary New: Yes. So, I mean, let’s start with the fact that we have 11 million people in the United States who are undocumented entirely. They lack any sort of status. So it’s not like this is a common situation where they are, to be honest, merely stuck in the United States without any status. Um, Denver, strangely, is a hotbed of human trafficking because we’re at the crossroads of I- 25 and I- 70. So, there are many terrible things that happen to people who do n’t have the full protections of the laws and who are living in these shadow economies. People who have experienced horribly abusive workplaces are frequently mentioned.
Um, a very, very common one would be wage theft. I wo n’t pay you the sum I promised to pay you or that I am obligated to. And essentially, what are you going to do about it?
It’s very common in the agricultural industry. So, um, someone who sponsors an agricultural worker does need to provide housing, but I’ve seen instances where they have to give the dog the trailer and the dog food. They ca n’t provide for themselves during their working lives because they lack sufficient drinking water. There are really just truly horrendous stories out there of people who are, I mean, not treated like humans.
Zachary New: I mean, there are programs that can help victims of crimes and labor-based abuses, and to make these individuals aware of these things, but not everyone is aware of them. People are also concerned that this person will report me to ICE, so I must follow their orders, whether that means living in a trailer and consuming dog food or something else.
There are truly some horrible stories out there. Although it’s not the rule, in my opinion, it’s the exception. You know, this is a significant issue. It’s something that people in Denver should be aware of. You can see it in truck stops and rest areas, after all. They do n’t show any signs, uh,
Alexis Kenyon: What do you mean?
Zachary New: If you ever visit a rest area. There will be numbers in the bathrooms that you can call if you’ve been a victim of human trafficking. That just kind of does happen. Not everyone who has arrived in the country is subject to human trafficking, in my opinion. However, I believe there are many people who have experienced things that would irritate people living right now in the United States. You know, that is unimaginable that they’ve gone through as they, you know, walk through the entirety of Central America and sometimes even into the United States, going through, you know, unimaginable experiences.
Alexis Kenyon: Hmm. I mean, many of the factors contribute to the US immigration system being so challenging to successfully navigate, in my opinion, are primarily due to the prevalence of false narratives about immigration. I mean, like the popular narratives that we hear over and over again, new immigrants take jobs away from people, or when we get new immigrants, crime goes up. You’ve heard that immigration drains our already constrained social resources. What do you think when you hear these arguments, and I mean, is there any truth to these claims that we hear about immigration repeatedly?
Zachary New: I always like to start these kinds of conversations with facts. The statistics are, in my opinion, unbelievably accurate. Less crimes are committed by immigrants than native-born Americans. Immigrants are job creators and not job takers. One in ten Coloradans is an immigrant. One in four Coloradans shares a home with an immigrant. An immigrant owns 1 in 6 businesses in the Denver metro area. And we will discover that our unemployment rates have historically been low in Colorado and the United States, even if we look at recent statistics and the concern that people are removing their jobs. I mean, we have about 3 percent unemployment in Colorado. So, these workers are needed who come to the United States, who come to Denver, and then they cannot work. They are unable to live anywhere. And it kind of resembles what you’re going to do. That’s where we see these camps of people on the streets in the middle of winter, which is, it’s horrendous.
Um, I guess to the arguments that we should be closing down the border because there is some sort of open border. I believe that the very simple way to think about this is that people even cross the demilitarized zone to South Korea, that is, to put it simply, even in North Korea. People cross the Iron Curtain. There is no way in the world could lock down our border so that people are n’t going to be able to cross. Instead, what will happen is that we’re going to create new pathways for smugglers or cartels to somehow make holes in the border.
So yeah, the bottom line here is that there is no. There is no feasible way to close the border. We wo n’t have watchtowers every 50 feet across our southern border, in a realistic way, I mean. That’s just not feasible. And even if it were, people would still squirm because it’s just human nature to leave your family in danger in such terrible circumstances and flee to safety.
Alexis Kenyon: I believe that the narrative about tightening borders is based in part on the idea that the United States only has a limited amount of resources to move around. And they’re kind of, you know, doing the math, counting new people as people who use resources. And so would the outcome be less for everyone else. How do you see it, exactly?
Zachary New:  , Yeah, it’s not a zero- sum game in the end. One plus one does n’t always equal two. One plus one equals three, to put it another way.
You have to think about who the people are who are coming to the United States, who are walking halfway across the continent. These are people who are fearless and willing to take chances. I’m not someone who has traveled halfway around the world to try to improve myself and my family, after all. I think it’s much better to humanize the people who are coming here, what they’re giving up, and what they’re risking.
And if we consider where asylum law was founded, it was the Holocaust. In the 1940s, there were many travelers by boat to the United States who could n’t land. They were n’t able to actually get any immigration status or any status in the United States, and so they were turned around and sent right back to Nazi Germany. They were, in fact, the victims of the Holocaust.
The international community then united and said,” We ca n’t have this happen again.” And they created various refugee protocols. This agreement was signed by the US. And there is the asylum law you came from. And we do n’t want to turn people back to conditions where their lives are in danger.
Resources in Denver for Venezuelan immigrants
Application for asylum
- Form I- 589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal: Essential for individuals seeking asylum in the U. S. due to persecution in their home country. This form can be downloaded and submitted to USCIS. Download Form I- 589.
Temporary Protected Status ( TPS):
- Form I-821, Temporary Protected Status: Venezuelans may be eligible for TPS because of the unsanitary conditions in their nation. This application is the first step in the TPS application process. Download Form I- 821
- Form I- 765, Application for Employment Authorization: This form is necessary along with your TPS application if you want to work in the United States. I- 765 Form I- Download
Additional Resources:
- For the most recent information on TPS, including eligibility and documentation requirements, visit USCIS Temporary Protected Status Page. Visit USCIS TPS
- USCIS Asylum Page: Detailed information on the asylum process and eligibility. Visit the USCIS Asylum
- Request for a Fee Waiver ( Form I- 912 ): A fee waiver may be requested for those who cannot afford the application fees. Download Form I- 912
- National Immigration Law Center
- Catholic Charities – Family Immigration Services
- Executive Office for Immigration Review
- American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Colorado’s Refugee Services Program
- Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains
- Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network ( RMIAN )
- Schunk Law Firm
- Center for Health Progress
- Colorado’s Immigrant Rights Coalition
- Denver’s Office of Immigrant andamp; Refugee Affairs is Denver’s City and County Office.
