President Trump’s Latest Efforts to Stop the Flow of Central American Asylum Seekers to the United States
President Trump does not believe in a quiet day on the immigration front. Today, the Trump administration proposed a new rule designed to address the numbers of Central American asylum seekers in the United States.
Here is the proposed rule in the Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 19, 2019
“Implementing Bilateral and Multilateral Asylum Cooperative Agreements Under the Immigration and Nationality Act
AGENCY: Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Interim final rule; request for comment.
SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (‘‘DOJ’’) and the Department of Homeland Security (‘‘DHS’’) (collectively, ‘‘the Departments’’) are adopting an interim final rule (‘‘IFR’’ or ‘‘rule’’) to modify existing regulations to provide for the implementation of Asylum Cooperative Agreements (‘‘ACAs’’) that the United States enters into pursuant to section 208(a)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (‘‘INA’’ or ‘‘Act’’). Because the underlying purpose of section 208(a)(2)(A) is to provide asylum seekers with access to only one of the ACA signatory countries’ protection systems, this rule adopts a modified approach to the expedited removal (‘‘ER’’) and section 240 processes in the form of a threshold screening as to which country will consider the alien’s claim. This rule will apply to all ACAs in force between the United States and countries other than Canada, including bilateral ACAs recently entered into with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in an effort to share the distribution of hundreds of thousands of asylum claims. The rule will apply only prospectively to aliens who arrive at a U.S. port of entry, or enter or attempt to enter the United States between ports of entry, on or after the effective date of the rule.
DATES: Effective date: This rule is effective November 19, 2019. Submission of public comments: Comments must be submitted on or before December 19, 2019.”
“The Trump administration, which has already closed the Mexican border to most Central Americans seeking U.S. asylum, is planning to go a step further and send most of the would-be migrants to another Central American nation to seek refuge there.
Regulations proposed by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security would authorize immigration judges at the southern border to send asylum-seekers to one of three countries — Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras — as long as it was not their homeland. They could apply for asylum there rather than in the United States.
The rules do not apply to unaccompanied minors, who would be held in government detention until they could be placed with a relative in the United States or another caretaker while their status is determined. The rules would allow other migrants to remain in the United States if they could convince an immigration officer that they were likely to be persecuted, or tortured, in the Central American country where they were to be sent to apply for asylum.”
UPDATE (11/20): For criticism of the proposed rule from the American Immigration Council, click here.
KJ