Should Asylum Seekers Be Classified as Apprehended?

[Truman62]

They come in and ask for asylum, they are then counted as an "apprehension" by border patrol.
Is that the right word to use?
Should they be counted as illegal, since they followed the rules?

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/03/20/border-migrant-apprehensions-el-paso-strains-shelters-volunteers/



When U.S. Border Patrol agents here apprehended more than 300 people in two separate instances one day last month, it was unclear how long the
record crossings would continue.

That question was partially answered Tuesday after agents in the El Paso sector apprehended more than 400 people in less than 24 hours — part of a
trend that's seen an average of 570 apprehensions a day in the sector over the last month.

The influx has put such a strain on federal detention facilities that the city’s Office of Emergency Management was considering converting a municipal
park into a staging ground for about 150 immigrants Tuesday after they were released by federal officials.

Ruben Garcia, the director of the Annunciation House, a local shelter, said they're usually able to provide housing at one of the organization's shelter
spaces when they're notified by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and told how many immigrants to expect. If space isn't available, Garcia and
his volunteers search for hotel space to ensure the migrants don't end up on the streets of El Paso.

[Truman62]

So if you are stopped for speeding, should we refer to you as a "felon" and the cops
get to count it as an arrest, even though all they did was give you a ticket?

[Local5th]

No. If they come to a port of entry to seek asylum we have a duty to treat them as such. I they claim asylum only after entering illegally and being caught count them as apprehended and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

[Truman62]

And yet 400 turned themselves over at a Port of Entry seeking asylum,
and Border Patrol is saying that they "apprehended" 400 immigrants.
They are then sent to concentration camps, with the possibility that
their kids could be separated from their parents.

Should we make them work too?