Politics

With hopes for asylum in U.S. dashed, migrants in Tijuana ponder next moves

Published

11 months ago

April 7, 2025

With hopes for asylum in U.S. dashed, migrants in Tijuana ponder next moves

Haitian migrants are among those staying at the Albergue Assabil shelter in Tijuana. Many Haitians, who fled gang violence in their homeland, have been in limbo, living at the shelter since the U.S. immigration crackdown.

TIJUANA — When the Russian man arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 1, he knew he was too late. Still, he held on to hope that even with President Trump in office he could be let into the United States to seek asylum.

Slavik, a 37-year-old engineer, said he fled Russia after being beaten by security forces for supporting the opposing political party. He had hoped to meet U.S. immigration officials to apply for asylum, he said, and has friends willing to sponsor him.

A woman in dark shirt runs a blade over the head of a bald man seated with strips of paper over his back, with hair on them

Instead, he spent weeks at a shelter for migrants in Tijuana as he mulled over what to do next.

“I just tried to do by rules and wait,” said Slavik, who asked to be identified by his nickname for fear of retribution. “There is nothing else now. All immigration will be illegally.”

In Tijuana, thousands of migrants such as Slavik had tried to secure an appointment with immigration officials through a Biden administration phone application, but Trump canceled the program, in effect blocking access to asylum. Many have since left the region.

With no way to legally enter the U.S., the mood among migrants still in Tijuana has shifted from cautious optimism to hopelessness. Shelters are no longer full, and directors say those who remain are among the most vulnerable.

Making matters worse, funding cuts by the Trump administration to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, have brought some shelters to the brink of closure, tightened others’ budgets and significantly reduced migrant healthcare services. Enduring organizations now struggle to fill the gaps.

“As lawyers, we want to give people solutions, but there are none now,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center. She visits Tijuana shelters a few times a month. “It’s them asking a lot of questions and us saying, ‘I’m so sorry.’”

People seated in a room with a framed print in Arabic script on the wall

Although illegal border crossings are down to a trickle, Toczylowski and other advocates believe they will eventually begin to increase.

Slavik fled his homeland in 2022, first living in Turkey and Georgia before realizing that, as Russian allies, those countries weren’t safe.

He can’t go back to Russia, where he would be considered a terrorist sponsor for donating to the campaign of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s biggest political rival, who died under suspicious circumstances last year.

But staying in Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America would be difficult, Slavik said, because he doesn’t speak Spanish. He speaks basic English and has considered going to Canada, but friends told him it’s difficult as well to obtain asylum there.

Now Slavik is starting to feel like he has no other choice but to try to get into the U.S. illegally.

“Maybe this is one chance,” he said. “If a lot of people do it, then maybe I can do it.”

Slavik stayed at Albergue Assabil, a shelter that serves mostly Muslim migrants. Director Angie Magaña said half of the 130 people living there before the U.S. presidential election in the fall have since left. Many went back to their home countries — including Russia, Haiti, Congo, Tajikistan and Afghanistan — despite the dangers they could face. Others went to Panama, she said.

On a recent Friday, the shelter was bustling. Haircuts were being offered in the courtyard. A truck pulled up outside, and residents helped carry in cases of donated bottled water. Inside the community center, those having breakfast and tea cleared the tables as members of a humanitarian organization arrived to play games with the children.

A woman in a gray shirt stands next to another woman, in a red shirt, holding the hand of a boy

Magaña said she’s frank with those who remain: “Most people have the hope that something will happen. I tell them their best bet is to get asylum here” in Mexico.

Toczylowski said this administration differs substantially from Trump’s first term, when she could seek humanitarian entry for particularly desperate cases, such as a woman fleeing a dangerous relationship. Now whenever a woman says her abuser has found her and she asks Toczylowski what she can do, “it’s the first time in my career that we can say, ‘There’s no option that exists for you.’”

In the weeks after the phone app for border appointments was eliminated, Toczylowski brought vulnerable families, including those with children who have disabilities, to the San Ysidro port of entry.

She said a Border Patrol agent told them there was no process to seek asylum and turned them away.

The U.S. military has added layers of concertina wire to six miles of the border fence near San Ysidro.

“Ideally, it deters them from crossing” illegally, said Jeffrey Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. “We would rather have them enter at a port of entry, where it’s much safer, and hopefully this guides them in that direction.”

He did not address the fact that the government has essentially stopped considering asylum requests at ports of entry. Toczylowski said that in her experience, limited exceptions have been made for unaccompanied children.

Migrant Haitians stay at the Albergue Assabil Shelter in Tijuana on March 22, 2025. Many

The halting of USAID funds is also transforming life at the border. On his first day in office, Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order freezing U.S. foreign aid payments for 90 days, pending a review of efficiency and alignment with foreign policy. The order says foreign aid is “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”

An April 3 report by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that up to $2.3 billion in migration-related grants appear on leaked lists shared with Congress of terminated foreign aid from USAID and the State Department. Among the funding — which provided humanitarian assistance, countered human trafficking and enabled refugee resettlement — was $200 million focused specifically on deterring migration from Central America.

The fallout from the cuts has already begun, the report states. For instance, the government of Ecuador used the withdrawal of foreign aid to justify rescinding amnesty for Venezuelan migrants, which could have dissuaded some from continuing north toward the United States.

In Tijuana, Trump’s order led to the closure of a health and social services clinic called Comunidad AVES. A longtime shelter called Casa del Migrante is now on the brink of closure after USAID-funded organizations scaled back their support, leaving its leaders on a desperate search for replacement funding.

Midwife Ximena Rojas and her team of two doulas run a birthing center and offer sexual and reproductive care to migrants.

Two women sit, each holding a child in their lap

Rojas sees 20 patients a day, three days a week. Her services are crucial: Many of the women she sees have never had a Pap smear and some were sexually assaulted on the migration route.

With the closure of AVES and concerns about Casa del Migrante — which has a partnership with the Tijuana government for weekly doctor visits — Rojas said the pressure is mounting on her small operation to somehow expand its reach.

“We are at max capacity,” she said. “We need an army.”

Rojas said she’s considering opening a food bank for migrants to make up for the loss of U.S.-government supported assistance.

“Our goal is to diminish infant death, also maternal death. The best way to do it is with nutrition,” Rojas said. “I give them a prenatal vitamin every day, but if they are eating [only] a banana a day, it’s like, a vitamin can only do so much.”

Many shelters counted on funds from the International Organization for Migration for groceries. At Espacio Migrante, the money paid for imported ingredients that allowed families from countries such as Russia and Uzbekistan to cook religiously or culturally appropriate meals.

At La Casita de Union Trans, a shelter for transgender women, the 6,000 pesos the facility got each month (about $300) went toward basic necessities — eggs, cooking oil and milk.

A woman in a brown coat stands near a metal door and a wall painted with a large butterfly

But director Susy Barrales said U.S. politics won’t stop trans women from seeking safety, or the shelter trying to support them.

“I want the girls to study, to obtain a profession, so they can confront anything that comes their way — because I’ve done it,” said Barrales, who is studying for a social work license. “We are going to keep striving.”

Shelter residents include Miranda Torres, 31, a hairstylist who fled Venezuela in July after she was raped by strangers and police refused to investigate. She said the assault infected her with HIV. Venezuela’s ongoing economic collapse meant she had no access to treatment.

Torres said she walked north through the Darien Gap, a dangerous 60-mile stretch of jungle that straddles the border dividing Colombia and Panama, where she was sexually assaulted again.

A woman seated on the lower half of a bunk bed in a room with a ceiling fan and clothes hanging on the right

In Oaxaca, Mexico, she was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and went through surgery and chemotherapy. She now bears a round scar on her neck and covers her bald head with a wig.

After taking time to recover, Torres finally arrived in Tijuana in December, where she slept atop a cardboard box on the street while making repeated and increasingly dangerous attempts to enter the U.S.

Unable to secure an appointment through the phone app, she went to the San Ysidro port of entry, waiting outside for four days to speak with an agent. She was turned away and then detained by Mexican immigration officials before being released because of her health conditions.

Torres said men belonging to a criminal group began to target her, saying they would harm her if she didn’t cross the border. So she attempted to climb the border fence but was too weak to hoist herself up. Then they told her to swim around the fence that extends into the Pacific Ocean. She nearly drowned.

Now, Torres has given up on the U.S. and is applying for asylum in Mexico.

“My dreams are in my head, not in any particular country,” she said, seated on a bunk bed in one of La Casita’s two bedrooms while Chappell Roan’s hit “Pink Pony Club” played from someone’s phone in the living room.

“If they’re not possible in the U.S., I’ll make them happen here.”

A woman seen in silhouette in the entryway of a building with lights on inside

Politics

Video: Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

Published

7 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Video: Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

new video loaded: Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

transcript

Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

Former President Bill Clinton told members of the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition that he “saw nothing” and had done nothing wrong when he associated with Jeffrey Epstein decades ago.

: “Cause we don’t know when the video will be out. I don’t know when the transcript will be out. We’ve asked that they be out as quickly as possible.” “I don’t like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that.” “Republicans have now set a new precedent, which is to bring in presidents and former presidents to testify. So we’re once again going to make that call that we did yesterday. We are now asking and demanding that President Trump officially come in and testify in front of the Oversight Committee.” “Ranking Member Garcia asked President Clinton, quote, ‘Should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee?’ And President Clinton said, that’s for you to decide. And the president went on to say that the President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved. “The way Chairman Comer described it, I don’t think is a complete, accurate description of what actually was said. So let’s release the full transcript.”
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Former President Bill Clinton told members of the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition that he “saw nothing” and had done nothing wrong when he associated with Jeffrey Epstein decades ago.

By Jackeline Luna

February 27, 2026

Politics

ICE blasts Washington mayor over directive restricting immigration enforcement

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

ICE blasts Washington mayor over directive restricting immigration enforcement

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accused Everett, Washington, Mayor Cassie Franklin of escalating tensions with federal authorities after she issued a directive limiting immigration enforcement in the city.

Franklin issued a mayoral directive this week establishing citywide protocols for staff, including law enforcement, that restrict federal immigration agents from entering non-public areas of city buildings without a judicial warrant.

“We’ve heard directly from residents who are afraid to leave their houses because of the concerning immigration activity happening locally and across our country. It’s heartbreaking to see the impacts on Everett families and businesses,” Franklin said in a statement.

“With this directive, we are setting clear protocols, protecting access to services and reinforcing our commitment to serving the entire community.”

ICE blasted the directive Friday, writing on X it “escalates tension and directs city law enforcement to intervene with ICE operations at their own discretion,” thereby “putting everyone at greater risk.”

Mayor Cassie Franklin said her new citywide immigration enforcement protocols are intended to protect residents and ensure access to services, while ICE accused her of escalating tensions with federal authorities. (Google Maps)

ICE said Franklin was directing city workers to “impede ICE operations and expose the location of ICE officers and agents.”

“Working AGAINST ICE forces federal teams into the community searching for criminal illegal aliens released from local jails — INCREASING THE FEDERAL PRESENCE,” the agency said. “Working with ICE reduces the federal presence.”

“If Mayor Franklin wanted to protect the people she claims to serve, she’d empower the city police with an ICE 287g partnership — instead she serves criminal illegal aliens,” ICE added.

DHS, WHITE HOUSE MOCK CHICAGO’S LAWSUIT OVER ICE: ‘MIRACULOUSLY REDISCOVERED THE 10TH AMENDMENT’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement blasted Everett’s mayor after she issued a directive restricting federal agents from accessing non-public areas of city facilities without a warrant. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

During a city council meeting where she announced the policy, Franklin said “federal immigration enforcement is causing real fear for Everett residents.”

“It’s been heartbreaking to see the racial profiling that’s having an impact on Everett families and businesses,” she said. “We know there are kids staying home from school, people not going to work or people not going about their day, dining out or shopping for essentials.”

The mayor’s directive covers four main areas, including restricting federal immigration agents from accessing non-public areas of city buildings without a warrant, requiring immediate reporting of enforcement activity on city property and mandating clear signage to enforce access limits.

BLOCKING ICE COOPERATION FUELED MINNESOTA UNREST, OFFICIALS WARN AS VIRGINIA REVERSES COURSE

Everett, Wash., Mayor Cassie Franklin said her new directive is aimed at protecting residents amid heightened immigration enforcement activity. (iStock)

It also calls for an internal policy review and staff training, including the creation of an Interdepartmental Response Team and updated immigration enforcement protocols to ensure compliance with state law.

Franklin directed city staff to expand partnerships with community leaders, advocacy groups and regional governments to coordinate responses to immigration enforcement, while promoting immigrant-owned businesses and providing workplace protections and “know your rights” resources.

The mayor also reaffirmed a commitment to “constitutional policing and best practices,” stating that the police department will comply with state law barring participation in civil immigration enforcement. The directive outlines protocols for documenting interactions with federal officials, reviewing records requests and strengthening privacy safeguards and technology audits.

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Everett, Wash., Mayor Cassie Franklin issued a directive limiting federal immigration enforcement in city facilities. (iStock)

“We want everyone in the city of Everett to feel safe calling 911 when they need help and to know that Everett Police will not ask about your immigration status,” Franklin said during the council meeting. ”I also expect our officers to intervene if it’s safe to do so to protect our residents when they witness federal officers using unnecessary force.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Mayor Franklin’s office and ICE for comment.

Politics

Power, politics and a $2.8-billion exit: How Paramount topped Netflix to win Warner Bros.

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Power, politics and a .8-billion exit: How Paramount topped Netflix to win Warner Bros.

The morning after Netflix clinched its deal to buy Warner Bros., Paramount Skydance Chairman David Ellison assembled a war room of trusted advisors, including his billionaire father, Larry Ellison.

Furious at Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav for ending the auction, the Ellisons and their team began plotting their comeback on that crisp December day.

To rattle Warner Bros. Discovery and its investors, they launched a three-front campaign: a lawsuit, a hostile takeover bid and direct lobbying of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress.

“There was a master battle plan — and it was extremely disciplined,” said one auction insider who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Netflix stunned the industry late Thursday by pulling out of the bidding, clearing the way for Paramount to claim the company that owns HBO, HBO Max, CNN, TBS, Food Network and the Warner Bros. film and television studios in Burbank. The deal was valued at more than $111 billion.

The streaming giant’s reversal came just hours after co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos met with Atty Gen. Pam Bondi and a deputy at the White House. It was a cordial session, but the Trump officials told Sarandos that his deal was facing significant hurdles in Washington, according to a person close to the administration who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Even before that meeting, the tide had turned for Paramount in a swell of power, politics and brinkmanship.

“Netflix played their cards well; however, Paramount played their cards perfectly,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Integrated Media Co. “They did exactly what they had to do and when they had to do it — which was at the very last moment.”

Key to victory was Larry Ellison, his $200-billion fortune and his connections to President Trump and congressional Republicans.

Paramount also hired Trump’s former antitrust chief, attorney Makan Delrahim, to quarterback the firm’s legal and regulatory action.

Republicans during a Senate hearing this month piled onto Sarandos with complaints about potential monopolistic practices and “woke” programming.

David Ellison skipped that hearing. This week, however, he attended Trump’s State of the Union address in the Capitol chambers, a guest of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The two men posed, grinning and giving a thumbs-up, for a photo that was posted to Graham’s X account.

David Ellison, the chairman and chief executive of Paramount Skydance Corp., walks through Statuary Hall to the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 24, 2026.

(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

On Friday, Netflix said it had received a $2.8-billion payment — a termination fee Paramount agreed to pay to send Netflix on its way.

Long before David Ellison and his family acquired Paramount and CBS last summer, the 43-year-old tech scion and aircraft pilot already had his sights set on Warner Bros. Discovery.

Paramount’s assets, including MTV, Nickelodeon and the Melrose Avenue movie studio, have been fading. Ellison recognized he needed the more robust company — Warner Bros. Discovery — to achieve his ambitions.

“From the very beginning, our pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company,” David Ellison said in a Friday statement. “We couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.”

Warner’s chief, Zaslav, who had initially opposed the Paramount bid, added: “We look forward to working with Paramount to complete this historic transaction.”

Netflix, in a separate statement, said it was unwilling to go beyond its $82.7-billion proposal that Warner board members accepted Dec. 4.

“We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs,” Sarandos and co-Chief Executive Greg Peters said in a statement.

“But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” the Netflix chiefs said.

Netflix may have miscalculated the Ellison family’s determination when it agreed Feb. 16 to allow Paramount back into the bidding.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company already had prevailed in the auction, and had an agreement in hand. Its next step was a shareholder vote.

“They didn’t need to let Paramount back in, but there was a lot of pressure on them to make sure the process wouldn’t be challenged,” Miller said.

In addition, Netflix’s stock had also been pummeled — the company had lost a quarter of its value — since investors learned the company was making a Warner run.

Upon news that Netflix had withdrawn, its shares soared Friday nearly 14% to $96.24.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos arrives at the White House

Invited back into the auction room, Paramount unveiled a much stronger proposal than the one it submitted in December.

The elder Ellison had pledged to personally guarantee the deal, including $45.7 billion in equity required to close the transaction. And if bankers became worried that Paramount was too leveraged, the tech mogul agreed to put in more money in order to secure the bank financing.

That promise assuaged Warner Bros. Discovery board members who had fretted for weeks that they weren’t sure Ellison would sign on the dotted line, according to two people close to the auction who were not authorized to comment.

Paramount’s pressure campaign had been relentless, first winning over theater owners, who expressed alarm over Netflix’s business model that encourages consumers to watch movies in their homes.

During the last two weeks, Sarandos got dragged into two ugly controversies.

First, famed filmmaker James Cameron endorsed Paramount, saying a Netflix takeover would lead to massive job losses in the entertainment industry, which is already reeling from a production slowdown in Southern California that has disrupted the lives of thousands of film industry workers.

Then, a week ago, Trump took aim at Netflix board member Susan Rice, a former high-level Obama and Biden administration official. In a social media post, Trump called Rice a “no talent … political hack,” and said that Netflix must fire her or “pay the consequences.”

The threat underscored the dicey environment for Netflix.

Additionally, Paramount had sowed doubts about Netflix among lawmakers, regulators, Warner investors and ultimately the Warner board.

Paramount assured Warner board members that it had a clear path to win regulatory approval so the deal would quickly be finalized. In a show of confidence, Delrahim filed to win the Justice Department’s blessing in December — even though Paramount didn’t have a deal.

This month, a deadline for the Justice Department to raise issues with Paramount’s proposed Warner takeover passed without comment from the Trump regulators.

“Analysts believe the deal is likely to close,” TD Cowen analysts said in a Friday report. “While Paramount-WBD does present material antitrust risks (higher pay TV prices, lower pay for TV/movie workers), analysts also see a key pro-competitive effect: improved competition in streaming, with Paramount+ and HBO Max representing a materially stronger counterweight to #1 Netflix.”

Throughout the battle, David Ellison relied on support from his father, attorney Delrahim, and three key board members: Oracle Executive Vice Chair Safra A. Catz; RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale; and Justin Hamill, managing director of tech investment firm Silver Lake.

In the final days, David Ellison led an effort to flip Warner board members who had firmly supported Netflix. With Paramount’s improved offer, several began leaning toward the Paramount deal.

On Tuesday, Warner announced that Paramount’s deal was promising.

On Thursday, Warner’s board determined Paramount’s deal had topped Netflix. That’s when Netflix surrendered.

“Paramount had a fulsome, 360-degree approach,” Miller said. “They approached it financially. … They understood the regulatory environment here and abroad in the EU. And they had a game plan for every aspect.”

On Friday, Paramount shares rose 21% to $13.51.

It was a reversal of fortunes for David Ellison, who appeared on CNBC just three days after that war room meeting in December.

“We put the company in play,” David Ellison told the CNBC anchor that day. “We’re really here to finish what we started.”

Times staff writer Ana Cabellos and Business Editor Richard Verrier contributed to this report.