Migrant advocates call on Biden administration to honor its ‘commitments’

Immigration rights advocates are calling on the new Biden administration to honor its “commitments” to asylum seekers – as a caravan of thousands of Hondurans heads for the US border.

“We recognize that it is important that the new United States government has demonstrated a strong commitment to migrants and asylum seekers, which provides the governments of Mexico and Central America with an opportunity to ” develop migration policies and management that respect and promote human rights. of the mobile population, ”Pueblo Sin Fronteras said in a statement reported by Fox News.

“We will advocate for the Biden government to honor its commitments.”

The declaration comes as more than 1,000 people from a Honduran caravan settled in Guatemala on Friday. The caravan, which includes more than 5,000 people in total, could be the first to reach the U.S. border after Biden takes office.

Pueblo Sin Fronteras called on Biden to work with the Mexican government and the countries of Central America to tackle the roots of illegal immigration.

Biden’s administration must “dismantle illegal and inhumane programs such as Remain in Mexico, the United States’ asylum cooperation agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as Title 42 deportations by American authorities, ”he said.

The Title 42 program allows customs and border protection officers to immediately deport anyone who crosses the border illegally to their country of last transit.

Staying in Mexico, implemented in January 2019, requires U.S. asylum seekers to stay in the country while their cases are heard by U.S. immigration courts.

Biden’s administration has promised a more humane approach to illegal migrants and a reversal of some of President Trump’s most controversial policies – but warned that the changes would not happen overnight.

“Our priority is to reopen the processing of asylum applications at the border, in accordance with the ability to do so safely and protect public health, especially in the context of COVID-19,” said Susan Rice, Biden’s policy advisor, in a recent interview with Spanish cable service FFE. .

“This effort will begin immediately, but it will take months to develop the capacity that we will need to fully reopen.”