Thousands of Turkish citizens seek asylum in US through Mexico: report

[Judi Lynn]

By
Turkish Minute
June 12, 2023

Some 33,000 Turkish citizens fleeing Turkey have entered the United States via the Mexican border over the past 18 months and are trying to build a new life amid difficult circumstances, Voice of America (VOA) Turkish service reported, citing official data from US Customs and Border Protection.

Among the Turkish asylum seekers are people from all walks of life. They are detained by US border patrol agents upon their entry to the United States and then are taken to detention centers in Arizona and Texas. Following the completion of “legal procedures,” the asylum seekers appear in court, the earliest in a week but possibly in months, following which they are either released from detention or sent back to their homeland, according to VOA Turkish.

The asylum seekers who have been released are reportedly sent to New York City in buses from Arizona and Texas where their need for food and shelter are met by the city. The asylum seekers, whose number exceeds 100,000, find themselves in dire circumstances in the homeless shelters and other places they have been assigned to.

Hundreds of Turkish citizens have to live in the shelters provided by New York City, where a Turkish asylum seeker was killed in a car accident last week.

More:
https://www.turkishminute.com/2023/06/12/thousand-of-turkish-citizen-seek-asylum-us-through-mexico-report/