Can asylum seekers skip the confusion at the border and simply apply at the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Mexico?
That’s the claim some make when they argue against more open immigration policies at the southern border. One graphic in particular alleges that immigrants can just apply for asylum by going to any of the nine U.S. consulates or the U.S. embassy in Mexico without any risk of child separation or detention.
The image tries to attribute a reason to its claim by saying that immigrants are coming to the border to help Democrats make a political point.
So is any of this true? Let's VERIFY.
THE QUESTION:
Can immigrants really apply for asylum at the U.S. embassy or consulates in Mexico?
THE ANSWER:
No, U.S. law requires asylum seekers to actually be in the United States to apply.
The only thing that’s definitively true in the image above is that there are actually nine U.S. consulates and One Embassy in the United States.
But if an asylum seeker tried to go to one of those locations, they’d just be sent to the border anyway.
That’s because according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service: “To Apply for asylum in the U.S., you must be physically present in the U.S.”
Put simply, you can’t apply for asylum at these locations. You have to physically enter the country to seek asylum.
So we can VERIFY, this claim is FALSE.
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