The viral photo showing a Honduran woman pulling two children away from tear gas has become a topic of interest again.
Maria Meza, the woman in the photo, as well as her five children crossed the border at Otay Mesa, California, on Dec. 17.
Representative Jimmy Gomez on Twitter confirmed that Maria Meza and her children have applied for asylum.
“After 7hrs, I can now confirm: Maria Meza & her kids—featured in this @Reuters image fleeing tear gas at the border last month—just filed for asylum. They’re on American soil,” wrote Gomez.
“It could be a years-long process, that’s what it’s most likely to be,” said Kara Lynum, an immigration lawyer, to The New York Times. “She has an attorney waiting for her but it’s hard to say what happens next.”
America First or Migrants First
After Gomez published his post, many Twitter users replied with heated comments. Some said it wasn’t fair to only highlight one migrant case, while others said that America is not ready to take in the migrants.Watch: Migrant Mother Says She Was Pressured to Join Border Rush
Background
Meza is one of the many people who traveled from Central America to Mexico as part of the migrant caravan. They were led to believe they would be welcomed to enter the United States only to be disappointed by the reality after they arrived at the border.Many migrants have waited for weeks, even months to present their case, and many have since given up waiting. Some crossed the border illegally, some returned home, and some decided to settle in Mexico, at least temporarily.
On the day when the photo was taken, U.S. border agents were attacked with rocks, glass bottles, and debris, and were forced to respond, according to Hector Garza, a border agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council.
For her asylum application, Meza cites gang violence as the reason she is unable to return home. However, gang violence is not a valid basis to be granted asylum in the United States. According to Nielsen, historically, 90 percent of migrants from Central America have not been eligible for asylum.