Asylum seekers kept out
Us-mexico deal will require most to wait south of border for court rulings in their cases
WASHINGTON — Thousands of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. will be forced to wait in Mexico while their cases are considered — a process that can often take longer than a year — the Trump administration and Mexico’s government announced Thursday.
The policy shift amounts to the boldest effort yet by the Trump administration to discourage people from seeking refuge in the United States. The dramatic change in long-standing U.S. policy will alter life for tens of thousands of Central Americans stuck at the border.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen hailed the shift as a “historic” measure that will “bring the illegal-immigration crisis under control.”
“‘Catch and release’ will be replaced with ‘catch and return,’” Nielsen said in a statement.
Mexican officials did not say where the immigrants would be housed or what resources they would be given, but they noted that humanitarian visas and work permits would be made available.
The new policy covers immigrants apprehended at border entry points, those who have been interviewed by U.S. immigration authorities, and those who have received an immigration-court date. It does not apply to children traveling alone or to Mexican nationals making asylum claims.
Under current policy, asylum applicants are often detained in the U.S. while their petitions move through the system. Because of the large caseload, the lengthy backlog and a shortage of detention space, many are ultimately given a court date and released, a practice that Trump has repeatedly denounced.
While asylum seekers wait for a ruling, many are fitted with electronic ankle monitors and are allowed to work.
Critics say the immigrants are gaming the system. Only about 9 percent of those who apply are actually granted asylum, and administration officials have long said that too many migrants make false claims as a way to stay in the U.S.
Under the new policy, migrants who enter the United States from Mexico and ask for asylum — whether or not they present themselves to U.S. authorities at a legal port of entry — may be returned to Mexico while they await further proceedings.
Opponents of Thursday’s move called it a misguided denial of a well-established legal right to seek protection in the U.S. from persecution in other countries.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat and the incoming chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the new policy “the single-biggest assault to date by this administration on the world’s most vulnerable populations coming to America — legally — and in search of a better life.”
Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates tied the policy shift to Trump’s frustrations over his inability to get Congress to pay for his proposed border wall.
The president is “refusing to admit defeat,” Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security committee, said in a statement.
The U.S. imposed the new policy unilaterally, but Mexico said it would cooperate with “on a temporary basis.”
The foreign ministry said Mexico had rejected a U.S. proposal known as “safe third country,” under which Central Americans seeking asylum would generally have to seek protection in Mexico, not in the U.S., similar to a U.S. understanding with Canada. The new policy preserves the right of Central Americans and others arriving at the southwest border to apply for asylum in the United States.