Trump could go ahead with the intention of keeping asylum seekers waiting in Mexico: report

The Trump administration is set to unveil a plan that would force Central American asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claim is being processed, according to a report in the Washington Post on Wednesday.

The proposal, entitled "Staying in Mexico", would constitute a radical change in government policy, which currently allows asylum seekers to remain in the United States while their claim is being processed. The post, citing planning documents and three sources within the Department of Homeland Security, said that under President Donald Trump's new plan, anyone who could not prove that there was a "reasonable fear" of the persecution in Mexico would have to wait there.

It is unclear whether this policy would survive a court challenge, and a federal judge this week ordered the government to process all refugee claims after the Trump government tried to ban anyone in the United States from doing so. illegally.

In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said there was no urgent plan to implement this policy.

"DHS does not implement such a new application program this week," Waldman said. "Reporting on policies that do not exist creates uncertainty and confusion along our borders and has a negative impact on the real world."

The Post, however, said the policy could come into effect as early as Friday, halfway through Thanksgiving weekend, while the president was spending his holidays at his Mar-a-Lago vacation complex in Florida.

BuzzFeed News reported last week that the White House was considering forcing people to wait outside the country. Officials from Immigration and Customs, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizenship and Immigration Services would have met to discuss the type of regulation that may be in place. Implementation.

The news comes after several weeks of turmoil in which the President criticized a caravan of migrants from Central America, traveling across the subcontinent and traveling to Mexico, with asylum projects on the southern border of the states. -United. The caravan included several thousand people, many of whom were fleeing violence, but Trump described those traveling in the group as gang members and criminals. He has also deployed thousands of soldiers to the border, many of whom are still there.

Critics of the president have accused him of alarmist remarks in order to win votes before the mid-term elections this month. He has barely mentioned the caravan since the November 6 elections.

Many members of the caravan are now near the border in Tijuana, in impatu, waiting for interviews to begin their asylum application or to become familiar with the new policies of the government.

La Poste notes that Trump remained furious with the current federal policy that allows asylum seekers to remain in the United States while their applications are pending, which calls him "catch you and relax."