Washington
Less than a month after the end of his term as president Donald Trump obtained the signing and entry into force of agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala i Honduras, countries that form the North Triangle of Central America, which allow the return to these countries of migrants crossing their territories to reach United States and apply for asylum.
These agreements are similar to Migrant Protection Memorandum (MPP), a program started by Government of(…) Trump in 2019 by which tens of thousands of people who reached the southern border of USA and applying for asylum have been returned to Mexico, where they must await the processing of their applications.
“Under the leadership of the President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security employs every tool at its disposal to mitigate the humanitarian and security crisis at the border, “the interim secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf.
The agreements had initially been signed in 2019, and the pact with Guatemala began to apply in September. The implementation of agreements with (…)the Savior i Honduras it was delayed until this month.
“The implementation of the agreements will strengthen overall asylum capacity in the countries of the Northern Triangle and throughout the region, allowing asylum seekers to have access to protection closer to home,” he added.
The entry into force of the agreements -known as ACA for its acronym in English- with the three Central American countries will allow the sending of “certain eligible migrants seeking humanitarian protection in each of the countries” with which the arrangement was established.
according to the DHS, the four signatory countries “reaffirm their commitment to combating mutual threats, including international organizations and gangs, migrant smugglers, drug trafficking and human trafficking.”
Critics of migration policy Trump have pointed out that the MPP and now the agreements ACA they force migrants to wait for the processing of their asylum applications in territories where they are exposed to violence and, in many cases, to subsistence in camps with poor protection and health care.
Migrant advocacy groups have reported that between November 2019 and March 2020, the Government of USA send back to Guatemala about 1,000 people who had arrived seeking asylum, and only 2% of them applied for asylum once they were sent to that country.
The Vice President – elect of USA, Kamala Harris, has criticized these agreements but President-elect Joe Biden, who will take over the presidency on January 20, 2021, has not announced plans to repudiate or replace asylum cooperation pacts.
On the government platform of the Democratic party it is indicated that the Biden Administration will seek to “expand efforts to register and prosecute refugees for resettlement in United States and other countries “.