The Trump administration has moved to end asylum protections for most Central American migrants in a major escalation of the president’s battle to tamp down the number of people crossing the US-Mexico border.
According to a new rule published in the Federal Register, asylum seekers who pass through another country first will be ineligible for asylum at the United States’ southern border. The rule, expected to go into effect on Tuesday, also applies to children who have crossed the border alone.
There are some exceptions though – if someone has been trafficked; if the country the migrant passed through did not sign one of the major international treaties that govern how refugees are managed (though most Western countries have signed them); or if an asylum seeker sought protection in a country but was denied, then a migrant could still apply for US asylum, Aljazeera reports.
But the move by President Donald Trump’s administration was meant to essentially end asylum protections as they now are on the southern border.
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The policy is almost certain to face a legal challenge. US law allows refugees to request asylum when they arrive in the US regardless of how they did so, but there is an exception for those who have come through a country considered to be “safe”. But the Immigration and Nationality Act, which governs asylum law, is vague on how a country is determined “safe”; it says “pursuant to a bilateral or multilateral agreement”.
Right now, the US has such an agreement, known as a “safe third country”, only with Canada. Under a recent agreement with Mexico, Central American countries were considering a regional compact on the issue, but nothing has been decided. Guatemalan officials were expected in Washington, DC, on Monday, but apparently, a meeting between Trump and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales was cancelled amid a court challenge in Guatemala over whether the country could agree to a safe third with the US.
The new rule will also apply to the initial asylum screening, known as a “credible fear” interview, at which migrants must prove they have credible fears of returning to their home country. It applies to migrants who are arriving in the US, not those who are already in the country.
Trump administration officials say the changes are meant to close the gap between the initial asylum screening that most people pass and the final decision on asylum that most people do not win. But immigrant rights groups, religious leaders and humanitarian groups have said the Republican administration’s policies amount to a cruel and calloused effort to keep immigrants out of the country. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are poor countries suffering from violence.
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