You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The political agenda of the Trump administration is being played out with immigration policy generally and asylum seeking in particular. Although many Americans believe a wall on our border with Mexico will keep us “safe” from some looming threat, others see immigration as a positive and essential part of American identity. A wall protects us, in one account, or is a sign of political ignorance, in another. In fact, the immigrants labeled as “rapists” and “criminals” are less likely to break the law than the population as a whole. Once on U.S. soil, asylum seekers are detained, sometimes with entire families locked in detention. Even worse, families are separated. An increased number of immigrants are attempting to enter the United States at the Mexican border, resulting in a number of asylum claims that is 354% greater than a year ago. By early May of 2019, as many immigrants had arrived in the United States in 2019 as in all of 2018. Many are from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, where longstanding poverty, crop failures from climate change, and a failure of the rule of law are widespread. Our government has reacted in a very unwelcoming manner, for example, by limiting the number of people who can present themselves at a port of entry. Partner violence and targeting by gangs is no longer honored as a legal basis for an asylum claim. And the resources of Mexican towns on the U.S. border are strained, as asylum seekers are forced to wait there for an appearance in immigration court. The Trump administration has succumbed to its worst political instincts and left those on the right side of history with a sense of despair.
In the middle of this fray, we find Barbara Eisold, an analyst in independent practice in New York, New York, who has written a very compelling and useful book (Eisold, 2019) about asylum seekers and the role clinicians can play in supporting them. She has spent the past 15 years providing psychological evaluations for asylum seekers in her off