At the US-Mexico border, a notebook holds asylum seekers' key to entering America
TIJUANA, Mexico - The notebook holds nearly 2,000 names of foreigners waiting to seek asylum in the United States. It's origins are unclear, but it was created after U.S. border officials began to limit the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the San Ysidro port of entry.
All conversations stopped when they saw the notebook.
Men, women and children - asylum seekers from Central America, Mexico, Africa and beyond - parted to make way for its keeper.
The Mexican woman named Gaby waded through the crowd. She clutched the ledgerlike notebook, its spine reinforced with duct tape.
Mothers scooped up their toddlers. Older children dropped their toys. Fathers hushed infants.
The notebook holds the names of hundreds of asylum seekers - from Guadalajara to Ghana - all trying to make their case at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
It is an improvised response, an attempt to inject order into chaos. Getting in the notebook is paramount. For the desperate foreigners whose future hinges on it, the stakes are high.
Nearly 2,000 foreigners seeking asylum in the United States have put their name in the notebook. Its origins are unclear, but it was created after U.S.
