Guatemala and Honduras have signed agreements with the USA to probably provide refuge to individuals from different international locations who in any other case would search asylum in the USA, US Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem stated Thursday on the conclusion of her Central America journey.
The agreements increase the Trump administration’s efforts to offer the US authorities flexibility in returning migrants not solely to their very own international locations, but additionally to 3rd international locations because it makes an attempt to ramp up deportations.
Noem described it as a method to provide asylum-seekers choices aside from coming to the USA. She stated the agreements had been within the works for months. with the US authorities making use of stress on Honduras and Guatemala to get them carried out.
“Honduras and now Guatemala after at the moment might be international locations that can take these people and provides them refugee standing as properly,” Noem stated. “We have by no means believed that the USA ought to be the one choice, that the assure for a refugee is that they go someplace to be protected and to be shielded from no matter menace they face of their nation. It does not essentially need to be the USA.”
Throughout US President Donald Trump’s first time period, the US signed such accords known as safe-third nation agreements with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. They successfully allowed the US to declare some asylum seekers ineligible to use for US safety and permitted the US authorities to ship them to these international locations deemed “protected.”
The US has had such an settlement with Canada since 2002.
The sensible problem was that each one three Central American international locations on the time had been seeing massive numbers of their very own residents head to the US to flee violence and a scarcity of financial alternative. Additionally they had extraordinarily under-resourced asylum techniques.
In February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed offers with El Salvador and Guatemala that allowed the US to ship migrants from different nations there. However in Guatemala’s case it was to solely be some extent of transit for migrants who would then return to their homelands, to not apply for asylum there. And in El Salvador, it was broader, permitting the US to ship migrants to be imprisoned there.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum stated Tuesday that Mexico wouldn’t signal a 3rd protected nation settlement, however on the identical time Mexico has accepted greater than 5,000 migrants from different international locations deported from the US since Trump took workplace. She stated Mexico accepted them for humanitarian causes and helped them return to their dwelling international locations.
The US additionally has agreements with Panama and Costa Rica to take migrants from different international locations although to this point the numbers despatched have been comparatively small. The Trump administration despatched 299 to Panama in February and fewer than 200 to Costa Rica.
The agreements give US authorities choices, particularly for migrants from international locations the place it’s not straightforward for the US to return them instantly. (AP) VN VN
