Reporting on July 26, 2023, the Nogales-based Kino Border Initiative (KBI), recounted a case of a migrant requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso after fleeing gang violence in Ecuador. After turning himself in to Border Patrol Agents, he was immediately expelled to Ecuador under Title 42, and forced to restart his journey North, attempting to seek asylum again in Nogales.
Admiel [name changed to protect privacy] fled gang violence in Ecuador. He began receiving threatening messages from gangs and shortly after, survived an attack by gang members. As he was leaving work with a colleague, gang members began following them and then attacked them, beating Admiel with a bat until he lost consciousness and fell into a coma for 4 days, which killed his coworker. Admiel quickly moved to another part of the country and filed a police report with the help of a lawyer. Just days later, the gang killed the lawyer. Admiel fled to the US-Mexico border to seek asylum. He turned himself into BP agents in El Paso, but was immediately expelled to Ecuador under Title 42. He was forced to start the journey north again and is now attempting again to seek asylum in Nogales, now with the asylum ban in place.
Https://Www.Kinoborderinitiative.Org/Annual-Report/. Kino Border Initiative. https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Congressional-Year-End-Report-2023_.pdf.