The Tamaulipas Attorney General's Office confirmed the identity of the asylum seeker who died by suicide on the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge.
The Attorney General’s Office said in a statementThursday that Jesús García Serna intended to cross into the U.S. to claim asylum, but was denied entry.
He then walked for several feet back into the Mexican side of the bridge, took out a knife and used it to end his own life.
Soon after the incident, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that “a man of unknown nationality collapsed on the Mexican side of the bridge and later died.”
CBP did not release any more information.
Aid workers say they’re concerned about the mental health of migrants who are part of the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy. The program has sent back to Mexico more than 54,000 asylum seekers.
It forces them to wait for months in dangerous conditions for their day in U.S. immigration court.
Mexicans don’t fall under the Remain in Mexico policy, but are subject to another policy called metering, which forces Mexican asylum seekers to wait for weeks before being allowed entry into the U.S. to pursue protection.
Some workers who work at a tent encampment in Matamoros, Mexico, say some asylum seekers have shared their suicidal thoughts with them.
Reynaldo Leaños Jr. can be reached at Reynaldo@TPR.org and on Twitter at @ReynaldoLeanos
