U.S. Creates Sanctuaries for Migrants in Latin American Countries

A new regulation will allow U.S. border officers to send asylum seekers to several Latin American countries instead of being released into the United States.

Reuters posted a report saying:

In a fast-track regulation set to publish in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the administration has created a framework that will allow asylum seekers to be sent to other nations that have negotiated bilateral agreements to accept them.

Previously, officials in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump have argued that migrants with a valid need for asylum should seek protection in the first “safe” country where they have the chance to apply, since many migrants travel through multiple countries on their way to the U.S. border.

However, the new regulation states that asylum seekers may be sent [from Texas] to any other countries with which the United States has asylum agreements that permit such an action – even if they did not first transit through those nations.

For example, migrants from Cameroon in Africa, or Bangalore in India, or Honduras in Central America might be told to ask for asylum in Guatemala instead of the United States. If they are given asylum in Guatemala, then U.S. officials will be legally free to deny them the right to request asylum in the United States. Once denied, the migrants cannot use the catch-and-release rules to repay their smuggling debts with cash from jobs in the United States.

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