Biden ends agreements with Central America limiting asylum

Photographer: Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty Images

Washington (AP) – The Biden administration is withdrawing the United States from agreements with three Central American countries that limited the ability of people to seek asylum at the Southwest border, as part of a broader effort to cancel the immigration policies of President Donald Trump

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the administration had notified El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that it had begun the formal process of terminating the agreements that was part of Trump’s efforts to restrict asylum.

The agreements, which had been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, required many people seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border to instead travel to one of the three Central American countries and there. assert their rights.

“The Biden administration believes there are more appropriate ways to work with our partner governments to manage migration in the region,” Blinken said in a statement announcing the immediate suspension of the agreements and their eventual termination.

The secretary of state said the administration intends to work with countries in Central America to reduce some of the insecurity and poverty that causes people to flee in the first place while maintaining safety. from the US border.

“To be clear, these actions do not mean that the US border is open,” he said. “While we are determined to expand legal avenues of protection and opportunity here and in the region, the United States is a country with borders and laws that must be enforced.”

The Trump administration has pushed Central American countries to accept the agreements as a way to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in the United States. Critics said this amounted to a withdrawal of the United States from its obligations under international law to assist people fleeing persecution, as none of the three countries could credibly provide refuge.

Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has swiftly deported almost everyone apprehended at the border or seeking asylum under public health law to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a series of executive orders ending or putting Trump’s immigration policies under review. He also set up a task force to reunite Central American families who were forcibly separated at the border under a zero tolerance program in 2018.