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MEXICO – Leaders of new Mexican government hold talks with US officials to allow asylum-seeking migrants in the United States to stay in Mexico pending a decision – a radical overhaul of the current policy suggested by the president Trump Saturday night was as good as a done fact.
While Mexican officials have stated that no decision has been made, the new government's leaders are under enormous pressure to face the thousands of migrants lined up along the border between the two countries. . Senior Mexican officials plan to meet on Sunday to discuss the proposal, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on December 1.
A decision to allow migrants to stay inside Mexico pending the decision of US courts would be a radical reversal of current policy, which allows asylum seekers to stay in the United States until their request is resolved.
"Migrants on the southern border will be allowed to enter the United States only when their applications are individually approved by a court. We will only allow those who enter our country legally. Apart from that, our very strong policy is Catch and Detain. No "liberation" in the United States … "said Mr. Trump in a tweet.
"… everything will remain in Mexico. If for some reason it becomes necessary, we will close our southern border. After decades of abuse, the United States has no chance of enduring the costly and dangerous situation! Added Mr. Trump.
In recent months, the number of migrants at the border has increased, while central Americans and others fleeing violence and poverty find themselves caught in the process of processing US border authorities. As thousands wait for entry to begin the asylum application process, migrant shelters and local and national resources in Mexico have been submerged.
Discussions have been going on for several months on how to deal with the backlog. Ebrard said on Saturday that no decision had been made as to how to handle the crowd of migrants along the border.
The issue has become more urgent in recent weeks as the number of migrants at some border crossings has risen sharply. Many traveled in groups of a few thousand, in the style of a caravan.
In the past two weeks alone, about 5,000 migrants, mostly from Central America, have arrived in the border town of Tijuana in northern Mexico. Officials say they expect at least 1,500 more arriving in the coming days, some traveling in other caravans heading north across Mexico.
While many are economic migrants fleeing poverty in their home country, hundreds, if not more, have said they want to apply for asylum in the United States.
On Friday, the mayor of Tijuana, Juan Manuel Gastelum, declared a humanitarian crisis in the city and said that he would seek the help of the United Nations to ease the burden of accommodation, shelter and food. 39, food and clothing of migrants.
According to a US official familiar with the proposal, migrants would go to US ports of entry to seek asylum and be questioned. If they can establish a credible fear of returning to their country of origin, they will be assigned a date of hearing and then return to Mexico to wait for that date.
But because of the backlog of immigration courts – about a million cases – these people would probably wait years in Mexico.
"What is there is a discussion of what we will do with the 9,000 people who will stay in Tijuana for a year," said Ebrard, who acknowledged that discussions were continuing. "What we are trying to think of is how to organize this, but we still have not found an answer."
US Secretary of State Kimberly Breier said Saturday, "Our commitment to Mexico is above all based on mutual respect and the commitment to work together to find creative solutions to our common challenges. We continue to work closely with current and future Mexican governments on issues related to bilateral relations, including illegal migration. "
Sunday's meeting must include Mr. Ebrard; the new Minister of the Interior, Olga Sanchez Cordero, and other senior government officials of the elected President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The news of this proposal was first reported by the Washington Post, quoting Ms. Sanchez Cordero, as saying that an agreement had been reached between the United States and the new Mexican government. But later on Saturday, Ms. Sanchez Cordero issued a statement that no decision had been made regarding the use of Mexico as a detention area for asylum seekers in the United States.
The Trump administration, eager to reduce the number of migrants and ease the burden of the US asylum system, had suggested turning Mexico into a "safe third country", which would require migrants to pass through the country. intention to seek asylum in Ireland. the United States at the request of sanctuary in Mexico instead. But the outgoing administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto resisted, as did his successor.
"We still have no specific proposal from the United States," said Ebrard. "We are always against the safe third country, but this theme is something distinct and for this reason we analyze it carefully."
The plan under review would differ from the safe third country status, but it would ultimately mean that thousands of additional migrants would remain in Mexico while the United States would treat them.
Currently, migrants who can create a credible fear of returning to their home country are treated and released by the Department of Homeland Security pending a hearing date. The Trump administration has described this practice as a "catch-all" policy that encourages migrants to travel to the United States knowing they will not be detained.
The number of people traveling to families in recent months has increased, frustrating Mr. Trump, who has made the reduction of illegal immigration a key part of his 2016 election campaign. of family members captured at the border exceeded 23,000, a record.
In September, nearly 16,658 people belonging to families were apprehended at the border, prompting the Trump government to call for an increase in the number of unprecedented crisis migrants and a threat to national security.
Frustrated by the increase in the number of migrant families, the administration began in April a policy of "zero tolerance", prosecuting criminally anyone who crossed the border illegally.
The implementation of this policy has led to the separation of nearly 3,000 children from their parents, triggering weeks of national demonstrations, Democrats and many Republicans calling on Mr Trump to cancel this policy. He finally gave in and took steps to end family separations, although the government sometimes had difficulties in reuniting those it had already separated.
Even before migrants began arriving in Tijuana in mid-November, the border town, long a major migration bridge to the United States, was already under tension.
Due to a bottleneck in processing asylum claims at US border posts, some 2,800 migrants were already in the city, waiting for their turn to seek asylum in the United States, many of them they occupy reception centers for migrants. For some, wait times lasted up to two months.
The Mexican asylum system is already overwhelmed by the growing number of immigrants who have sought refuge in recent years and advocates claim that Mexico remains a dangerous place for migrants in transit or in search of residence.
