‘Stuck in limbo’: Metered asylum seekers stranded in Mexico

Thousands of migrants on informal waitlists have been in limbo in Mexico for months with no clarity on their fates.

Gessale walked up to a crossing along the US-Mexico border in February last year, hoping to file an asylum claim in the United States citing the political persecution he faced in his home country of Ethiopia. But instead, Gessale, 36, who requested to withhold his real name to protect his identity, was instructed to take the next number in line, 4545, and wait for a phone call. He later found out he was subject to a practice called “metering”, which only allows a limited number of people to apply for asylum at US ports every day. Usually, migrants get a call within a few weeks. But in March 2020, the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. The US shut down its southern border and stopped processing asylum requests.