Bloomberg News
@Bloomberg-News·2.8M subscribers·40.1K videos
Trump to End Asylum Protections for Central American Migrants
Posted
July 16, 2019
Views
6,343
Likes
105
Comments
21
Engagement
July 16, 2019
6,343
105
21
1.99%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
You’re on July 16, 2019. Earlier episodes are to the left, later ones to the right — the row keeps loading as you go. Click any card to open it.
Jul 16, 20190:21Now PlayingPresident Donald Trump moved to end asylum protections for most Central American migrants who cross the U.S. southern border as he steps up his crackdown on immigration.
Migrants who fail to apply for protection from persecution or torture while in a third country before entering the U.S. would be ineligible for asylum, under a rule set to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register by the Trump administration.
“The large number of meritless asylum claims places an extraordinary strain on the nation’s immigration system,” according to the notice. It also said the claims undermine “humanitarian purposes of asylum” and have worsened human smuggling.
Trump has focused on cracking down on undocumented immigration -- one of his signature issues -- for weeks as his 2020 re-election campaign gets underway. He prodded Mexico to take steps to block migrants from crossing into the U.S. after threatening the country with tariffs on goods last month.
Trump dropped plans for tariffs after a June 7 agreement with Mexico that called for its authorities to take new steps to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. Trump has said Mexico has done “an outstanding job.”
The president’s new move, which affects migrants from any country traveling through Mexico, reverses the U.S.’s decades-old approach on asylum. It comes as the administration faces heavy criticism from Democrats and immigration rights groups over the treatment of children and other immigrants in detention facilities on the border.
Democrats denounced Trump’s approach. “The president is devastating lives, dishonoring our values and departing from decades of precedent and law in his haste to destroy the lifeline of asylum in America,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “This cruel new asylum rule perfectly showcases the Administration’s utter disdain and disregard for immigrant communities and communities of color.”
The new policy is sure to attract legal challenges, as have many of the administration’s earlier plans to limit asylum. While the notice asserts that the policy complies with U.S. law, Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that it’s “patently unlawful and we will sue swiftly.”
“The Trump administration is trying to unilaterally reverse our country’s legal and moral commitment to protect those fleeing danger,” Gelernt said.
The Trump administration said there’s been a sharp increase in migrants claiming fear of persecution or torture when caught by U.S. authorities.
“Only a small minority of these individuals, however, are ultimately granted asylum,” according to the notice.
The U.S. granted asylum to 26,568 individuals in 2017, an increase of 31% from the year before, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The top countries from which those people came to the U.S. were China, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The rule allows for some exceptions. A claim can still be filed in the U.S. if a migrant’s application was denied in another country en route to the U.S. Also, applications would be allowed for victims of “a severe form of trafficking” and those who travel to the U.S. through countries that aren’t party to an international treaty on refugees.
Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement that asylum is “a discretionary benefit” offered by the U.S. to those “fleeing persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”
Mexico plans to maintain its current policies on asylum, said the country’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard. Mexico hasn’t agreed to be a “safe third country” that would process paperwork for asylum seekers to prevent them from applying in the U.S., he said.
The administration said last week that the number of people caught illegally crossing into the U.S. or turned away at the Mexican border dropped to 104,000 in June, compared to 144,000 a month earlier.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
TICTOC ON SOCIAL:
Follow TicToc on Twitter
Like TicToc on Facebook
Follow TicToc on Instagram
Watch all of TicToc’s videos
Listen to TicToc’s podcast
Subscribe to our newsletter
TicToc by Bloomberg is global news for the life you lead. We are a 24/7 news network that covers breaking news, politics, technology, business and entertainment stories from around the globe, supported by a network of Bloomberg’s 2,700 journalists across 120 countries.
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
