Honduran migrants, who are part of a caravan heading to the United States, are walking down a road in Guatemala on January 16th.
Photographer: Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty Images
Washington (AP) – Biden administration withdraws U.S. from agreements with three Central American countries restricting people’s ability to seek asylum at the southwestern border, part of a broad effort to undo immigration policies of President Donald Trump
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that the administration had notified El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that it had begun the formal process of terminating agreements that had been part of Trump’s effort to restrict asylum.
The agreements, which had been suspended since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, required many people seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to go to one of the three Central American countries and continue their claims.
“The Biden administration believes there are more appropriate ways to work with our partner governments to manage migration across the region,” Blinken said in a statement announcing the immediate suspension of the agreements and their final termination.
The secretary of state said the administration intends to work with Central American nations to reduce some of the insecurity and poverty caused by the flight of people, while maintaining the security of the U.S. border.
“To be clear, these actions do not mean that the U.S. border is open,” he said. “While we are committed to expanding the legal avenues of protection and opportunity here and in the region, the United States is a country with borders and laws that must be enforced.”
The Trump administration pushed Central American nations to accept the agreements as a way to reduce the number of asylum seekers in the United States. Critics said it amounted to a withdrawal of the United States from its obligations under international law to help people fleeing persecution, as none of the three countries could provide credible refuge.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the United States has rapidly expelled almost all detainees at the border or seeking 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 or revised Trump’s immigration policies. He also set up a working group to bring together Central American families who had been forcibly separated at the border under a zero-tolerance program in 2018.