A Salvadoran man was kidnapped and killed while awaiting U.S. asylum in the Mexican border city of Tijuana under President Donald Trump’s controversial Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) policy.
The man, whose name has been withheld to protect his relatives from retaliation, was a husband and father awaiting the next court date for his family’s asylum case. According to the late man’s wife, he had complained about being in danger before his violent death.
“They sent us back. We said Tijuana was really dangerous, there was a lot of crime but they didn’t listen to us. They said that they couldn’t do anything because those were Trump’s orders,” the man’s widow said, as reported by Reuters.
She’s referring to MPP, more popularly known as “Remain in Mexico,” a Trump policy that has forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait out their cases in Mexican camps for months or even years.
The 35-year-old Salvadoran man, who had picked up a temporary job at a pizzeria in the new city, had been in Tijuana for four months before his murder on Nov. 20. According to the news wire, the father of two was stabbed in the neck, chest and abdomen
Mexican authorities, who are currently investigating the killing, added that the man was “dismembered.”
“They kidnapped my husband, he disappeared and unfortunately when I found him he was dead,” his widow said.
Following the death, the mother and her children returned to the border requesting help, NBC 7 San Diego reports. According to her attorney, Richard Sterger, they were admitted for further legal proceedings. The immigration lawyer is currently trying to transfer their case from San Diego to San Francisco, where they have family.
The late husband, wife and their two children first started the legal asylum process in September 2019 at the San Ysidro Port of entry in Tijuana. They initially spent time in a detention center before being sent to Mexico.
“I won’t get my husband back, we had so many plans for our children and everything was ruined because they don’t believe us,” the widow said.
