Medical Screenings Discourage Asylum Seekers

Many asylum seekers who are waiting to be heard in U.S. immigration court are currently living in tent camps on the Mexico side of the U.S. border. After waiting several months in destitute conditions, they arrive to immigration court only to find that they are being turned away from attending their hearings if CBP believes any member of the family looks sick. This leads to a postponement of hearings which is a denial of due process. Medical screenings have become the latest tactic used by the CBP to discourage asylum seekers from pursuing their claims. Even worse, many who are supposedly screened before their hearings and told they have a certain ailment, are later found to have been diagnosed erroneously, forcing them to miss their court hearing.