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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is expected to announce Thursday his intention to automatically deny asylum to migrants attempting to illegally enter the US between entry points – part of his last electoral response during the election season to caravans heading towards the border.
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It was unclear whether the restrictions proposed by Trump would apply only to those traveling in caravans or would apply to all persons attempting to enter the country. And it was also doubtful that Trump had legal authority.
The asylum clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act states that anyone who comes to the United States can apply for asylum. And any change would almost certainly be immediately challenged in court.
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Trump was due to make his announcement during a brief speech Thursday afternoon, according to three people aware of the plans. They spoke only under the guise of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about their names.
The administration has discussed for several days various options to tackle caravans and it was possible that things change before 4:15 pm. remark "on the crisis of illegal immigration" before leaving the White House for a campaign rally in Missouri.
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The announcement would be Trump's latest attempt to keep the issue of immigration at the center of his concerns as he tried to spark the GOP's enthusiasm in the final stretch before the elections next Tuesday, which will help determine if the GOP retains control of Congress. Trump and his badociates have long believed that immigration is essential to establishing a base. He seized the caravans of Central American migrants who were slowly moving from Mexico to the United States.
The president announced on Wednesday that he planned to deploy up to 15,000 troops at the US-Mexico border in response to still-distant caravans, about double the number reported by the Pentagon. He is currently planning a mission whose dimensions change daily.
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US troops arrive at the Arizona border before the migrant caravan
Trump and other senior officials have long been encouraging asylum seekers to go through legal entry points. But many migrants are unaware of these indications and the official borders are increasingly congested. Immigration officials have refused asylum seekers at entry points due to overcrowding, asking them to return later. Arrears have particularly worsened in recent months at border crossings in California, Arizona and Texas. In general, people wait five weeks before applying for asylum at San Diego's main border post and sleep outside for days.
The administration has also beefed up security at the points of entry this week. In McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, workers were seen installing extra doors and fences along a bridge over a bridge between the United States and Mexico, according to the newspaper The McAllen Monitor.
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Migrants who cross illegally are usually arrested and often ask for asylum or some other form of protection. Claims for compensation have grown in recent years and the backlog of more than 800,000 cases is pending before an immigration court. Officials protested what they saw as loopholes to encourage citizens, especially from Central America, to come to the United States and seek asylum. As a general rule, only about 20% of candidates are approved.
The United States processed more than 330,000 asylum applications in 2017, nearly double the number of them two years ago and overtook Germany, one of the most raised in the world. A report from the UN refugee agency does not disclose exactly where and how they asked for asylum.
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There are currently four caravans heading to the United States. The main group of about 4,000 migrants – below its peak estimated at more than 7,000 – remains in southern Mexico, on foot and hundreds of kilometers from the border. A second, smaller group of about 1,000 migrants is more than 200 km from the first caravan. A third group of about 500 people from El Salvador went to Guatemala, and a fourth group of about 700 people left Wednesday from the Salvadoran capital.
Central American migrants are walking along the road near the border with Guatemala, while they continue their journey to try to reach the United States, in Tapachula, Mexico, the United States. October 21, 2018.
REUTERS / Ueslei Marcelino
Trump nevertheless mounted a huge show of strength in response. The Pentagon said that "more than 7,000" soldiers would be sent to the South-West border to support customs and border protection officers, although the number of soldiers has changed at breakneck speed.
WATCH: Trump blames Democrats for "crisis" of migrant caravan
Just last week, officials said about 800 to 1,000 could be sent. On Monday, officials said about 5,200 people were deployed. The next day, the air force commander in charge of the operation said that more than the total initially announced was going, and he categorically rejected a report that he could reach 14,000 people, saying that "Was not in line with what was actually planned."
Only 24 hours later, Trump took the Pentagon by surprise.
"As for the caravan, our army has come out," Trump said Wednesday.
"We have about 5,800 people. We will place between 10,000 and 15,000 military personnel in addition to Border Patrol, ICE and all others at the border. "
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Trump rejected the idea that he had "terrorized" and used the issue for political ends, but his growing rhetoric in the last days of the election campaign challenges this denial. He also said he was considering a decree to unilaterally end the constitutionally protected citizenship right for children born to non-US citizens.
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Mexico has offered asylum to members of the migrant caravan. Several thousand have rejected it
Trump also tweeted Wednesday a video claiming that Democrats were responsible for allowing a homicidal immigrant to the United States, but did not provide any evidence to support this claim.
In his tweet on Wednesday, Trump highlighted the case of Luis Bracamontes, a Mexican immigrant deported twice and sentenced to death in California for killing two policemen. The 53-second spot includes the insults Bracamontes uttered during his trial while he professes to regret not killing more officials.
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The video presents scenes of migrants heading to the United States and asks with concern: "Who else would the Democrats let in?
This was reminiscent of the famous "Willie Horton" advertisement used against the Democratic presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis, in 1988, and condemned as racist. Horton, who was black, raped a woman while she was out of jail for a weekend. As governor of Mbadachusetts, Dukakis supported the leave program. He lost to Republican George H. W. Buisson.
– Associated press editors Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Zeke Miller and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
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