Washington blocks migrants’ asylum claims

In another controversial move, the Donald Trump administration has decided to restrict the entry of illegal migrants who cross the southern border with Mexico to seek asylum in the US.

The move, opposed by several right groups, is at preventing the several thousands of people, mainly from three Latin American countries - Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador - from entering the country and using the existing asylum law to gain entry into the US.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security published a joint rule on Thursday prohibiting certain people caught crossing the US southern border from Mexico between ports of entry from claiming asylum.

Once the plan goes into full effect, migrants entering at the US southern border would only be eligible for asylum if they report at official ports of entry, officials said.

For doing so, Trump is using his authority to suspend or restrict entry of aliens into the US if he determines it to be in the national interest to do so.

“Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources, preventing us from being able to expeditiously grant asylum to those who truly deserve it,” Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a joint statement.

The president is also expected to sign an accompanying directive specifying which migrants would be subject to the new asylum limits, senior administration officials said. The officials did not say to whom the ban would apply.

President Trump made his hardline policies toward immigration a key issue ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. The announcement on Thursday suggests he will not ease up on his immigration crackdown, which dominated his first two years in office.

“Today, we are using the authority granted to us by Congress to bar aliens who violate a Presidential suspension of entry or other restriction from asylum eligibility,” they said.

WASHINGTON:

REUTERS A file photo of a migrant from Honduras holding his daughter while crossing the Suchiate River into Mexico from Guatemala.