Joe Biden suspended the “third country to …

President Joe Biden reversed one of the most contested immigration measures of the Donald Trump era with the suspension of agreements that the United States had signed with the three main countries of origin of migrants and refugees from Central America. The so-called “safe third country” agreements were aimed at preventing migrants from seeking asylum on American soil. The suspension takes effect immediately and implies that Asylum seekers will not have to forcibly initiate the legal process in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras and wait for the results from there. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that in this way the US government is taking the “first concrete steps” to achieve greater “partnership and cooperation” in the region.

In the days leading up to Biden’s inauguration as president, thousands of Hondurans boarded a migrant caravan with the intention of reaching the United States, but they were suppressed and several of them detained in Guatemala. Following the closure policy of the last four years, the new US administration seeks to approach relations with Central America in a different way. So far, for example, he has sought different ways to temporarily suspend deportations and provide guarantees to illegal migrants who arrived in the country as minors, the so-called “dreamers”.

The end of ACAs

<< United States Suspends and Begins Termination of Asylum Cooperation Agreements (ACAs) with Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as the first concrete steps of a strengthened partnership and cooperation in the region, “the State Department said in a statement signed by its chief Antony Blinken. On his Twitter account, he anticipated that his government was seeking to promote “safe and orderly and Human regional migration”.

According to the agreements signed in 2019 under strong pressure from Washington, By viewing these Central American countries (three of the most violent in the world) as safe, asylum seekers passing through these territories on their way to the United States were forced to initiate and wait for the process. Not doing so completely reduced their chances of getting it.

As of February 2020, according to official data from Guatemala, around 700 Honduran and Salvadoran migrants were deported from the United States to Guatemala under the ACA. The Guatemalan government had already announced last Friday that the United States would end the agreement signed in July 2019 by the Trump administration and the local president at the time, Jimmy Morales.

Transfers under the agreement between the United States and Guatemala have been suspended since mid-March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the agreements with El Salvador and Honduras have never been implemented .explained the State Department.

Given the expectations the Biden administration is raising with the suspension and removal of many of Trump’s immigration barriers, Blinken clarified that none of these measures “mean the US border remains open.” “While we are committed to expanding legal avenues of protection and opportunities here and in the region, The United States is a state with borders and laws that must be followed“said the official.

A week ago, Biden had signed three executive orders to counter the “bad” immigration policies of his predecessor. Among them he presented a proposal for grant citizenship to between 9 and 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country and suspended construction of the border wall with Mexico.

Democratic President ordered the creation of a task force to reunite minors separated from their parents after crossing the border and gave instructions to revise the Migrant Protection Protocols program, also known as “Remaining in Mexico”, by which more than 60,000 asylum seekers have been returned to this country pending the process.

Another of the plans of the United States consists of assist the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America with the aim of promoting opportunities for individuals and communities throughout the region. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador revealed a day after his first telephone conversation with Biden since the Democratic president came to power that the United States has pledged $ 4 billion to promote the development of the country. Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and thus curb forced migration.

In recent months, there has been a significant increase in the arrivals of undocumented migrants at the US border with Mexico. Republicans, strong supporters of Trump’s restrictive policies, understand that this trend will continue now that Biden has reached the White House and has begun to unravel the Republican tycoon’s network of immigration measures.

The Democratic president expressed his willingness last week to tackle the “root causes” of Central American migration, saying that Trump’s efforts to build a border wall led to neglecting the study of the real reasons citizens emigrate. In that sense, Biden signed an executive order in recent days to “ensure the safe and orderly treatment” of asylum seekers at the border.