By Heart of Illinois ABC
BLOOMINGTON – A McLean County native is advocating for people seeking asylum in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security said previously denied requests, could begin again.
Will McCorkle described the camps on the Mexico side of the southern border as horrific. He’s been there, Matamoros, near Brownsville, Texas six times in the past year to help people waiting for asylum in the U.S. The people trying to leave their home countries to escape things like war and poverty.
“Reality is is most of these people that are crossing are not a danger,” said McCorkle.
McCorkle began advocating for these groups after working on immigrant right’s in South Carolina. The Twin City native and Illinois State University graduate was back to educate at the Bloomington Public Library on an issue, he believed, had intensified during the pandemic.
“There’s the official policy, and then you actually get on the ground and you see a lot of it is very different,” said McCorkle.
Polices that Lincoln College Associate Professor, Ron Keller, said dealt with humanitarian issues and the conditions the people live in.
“The problem is, is because there are 10’s of 1,000’s of people each month that has created this backlog of the process,” Keller continued, “It takes months, in some cases for a proper asylum hearing to take place.”
McCorkle said he wanted to see people be able to go through the process of seeking asylum. He called it a human right.
“The majority from Central America had to stay in Mexico, in horrific situations,” said McCorkle.
He’s hoping they can soon find people and organizations in Central Illinois for help and resources.
“Unlike refugees, asylum seekers don’t get any government resources,” said McCorkle.
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