Rochelle Garza, a lawyer based in Brownsville, Texas, has filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asking for Ingrid and a dozen others in similar situations to be allowed to cross international bridges to seek asylum. The migrants have a right to leave Mexico and the right to seek asylum in the United States, she said, and neither country is cooperating.
It's even riskier for migrants who — unlike Ingrid — are in Mexico illegally and could be deported at any time. Rodriguez, the Reynosa lawyer, said while migrants can theoretically appear before a Mexican judge to ask for an "amparo," a kind of temporary reprieve from deportation, costly legal fees prevent them from doing it.
Immigrant families seeking asylum in the United States wait on the Mexican side of the international bridge connecting Brownsville to Matamoros, Mexico.