Honduran migrants, part of a caravan on its way to the United States, are walking along a road in Guatemala on January 16.
Photographer: Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty Images
Washington (AP) – The Biden government withdraws US from agreements with three Central American countries that limit the ability of people to seek asylum on the southwestern border, as part of a wide-ranging effort to overturn President Donald Trump’s immigration policy .
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the government had informed El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that they had begun the formal process of ending agreements that were part of Trump’s effort to curb asylum.
The agreements, which have been held since the early coronavirus pandemic, required many people seeking asylum on the US-Mexico border to go to one of the three Central American countries and make their claims there. .
“The Biden government believes there are more appropriate ways to work with our partner governments to manage migration in the region,” Blinken said in a statement announcing the immediate suspension of the agreements and their eventual termination.
The Secretary of State said the government intends to work with the Central American countries to reduce the insecurity and poverty that are causing people to flee in the first place, while maintaining the security of the U.S. border.
“To be clear, this action does not mean that the US border is open,” he said. “While we are committed to expanding legal avenues for protection and opportunities here and in the region, the United States is a country with borders and laws to enforce.”
The Trump administration has pressured the Central American countries to accept the agreements as a way to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in the United States. Critics have said that this amounts to a US withdrawal of its obligations under international law to help people flee persecution, as none of the three countries could provide credible refuge.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the U.S. has rapidly displaced almost everyone who has been arrested at the border or asylum under a public health law to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a series of executive orders that ended Trump’s immigration policy or revised it. He also set up a task force to reunite Central American families who were forcibly separated in 2018 under a zero-tolerance program.