As a large caravan of Central American migrants approached the northern
\nborder of Mexico last month, the Trump administration launched a campaign to turn back the
\ngroup.
\nUnwelcoming statements were issued by American officials, including Kirstjen Nielsen, the
\nsecretary of homeland security, who told migrants who intended to apply for asylum in the United
\nStates that they \u201cshould\u201d instead seek protection in Mexico.
\nMexican officials, however, said the migrants were under no legal obligation to apply in Mexico,
\nand, indeed, more than 200 of them ended up crossing onto American soil and petitioning for
\nsanctuary there.
\nBut under a proposal for a bilateral agreement that the Trump administration has broached with
\nMexican officials, American border officials would have been able to legally turn back those
\nasylum seekers, forcing them to seek protection in Mexico.
\nThe agreement, or at least the concept of one, was part of a wide-ranging discussion about
\nbilateral and regional immigration matters between Mexican and American officials in
\nWashington on Thursday, officials said. The talks are scheduled to continue on Friday.
\nSuch an asylum arrangement, known as a \u201csafe third country\u201d agreement, would allow American
\nborder officials to turn away most asylum seekers who cross Mexico to reach the United States,
\nforcing them to petition in Mexico instead.<\/p>\n
It would significantly stem the flow of asylum seekers crossing the southwest border of the
\nUnited States in search of American sanctuary \u2014 and push responsibility for them onto Mexico.
\nThe United States has a similar agreement with Canada, and the principle is used elsewhere in
\nthe world.<\/p>\n
Mexican and American officials declined to comment on whether the two sides made any
\nprogress in Thursday\u2019s talks or on the substance of the conversations surrounding a safe third
\ncountry agreement. But asked about the possibility of a safe third country agreement in a
\ntelevision interview on Thursday morning, Luis Videgaray, Mexico\u2019s foreign secretary, said,
\n\u201cThere aren\u2019t conditions to speak about new cooperation mechanisms in this matter.\u201d
\nThe Trump administration has sought to reduce immigration and has been interested in
\nbrokering a safe third country agreement with Mexico to relieve some of the pressure on its
\nasylum system, which has seen the number of applications skyrocket in the past several years,
\ncontributing to immense backlogs in the immigration courts.
\nBut migrants\u2019 advocates and human rights activists say the Mexican government would be ill
\nprepared to handle the sudden and significant surge in asylum petitions that would result from a
\nsafe third country agreement.
\nMexico\u2019s asylum system is already overwhelmed by the growing numbers of immigrants that
\nhave sought sanctuary in recent years, the advocates contend. Moreover, they say, Mexico
\nremains a very dangerous place, with weak law enforcement and judicial systems incapable of
\nproviding adequate protections for migrants who are in transit or are seeking to stay.
\n\u201cThe fact is that Mexico is not a safe option for many people, least of all migrants and asylumseeking
\nfamilies,\u201d said Michelle Bran\u00e9, director of the migrant rights and justice program at the
\nWomen\u2019s Refugee Commission, an advocacy group. Such a deal, she said, would be \u201cnothing more
\nthan another attack by the Trump administration on women, children and families seeking safety
\nat our border.\u201d
\nIn recent years, violence in Central America has driven tens of thousands of people to migrate to
\nthe United States to seek protection.
\nA far smaller but increasing number of Central Americans and migrants from other countries
\nhave sought sanctuary in Mexico. In 2016, the last full year for which statistics are available,
\nnearly 8,800 people applied for asylum in Mexico, almost seven times as many as in 2013,
\naccording to Mexico\u2019s government. About the same number applied during the first eight months
\nof 2017.
\nThe idea of a safe third country agreement with Mexico has not been the exclusive domain of
\nRepublicans. According to Mexican officials, Obama administration officials brought up the idea
\ninformally in negotiations with their Mexican counterparts, but the initiative went nowhere.
\nThe Trump administration has championed the notion more forcefully, Mexican officials say.
\nSome Republican legislators in Washington have even pushed a bill that would allow the United
\nStates to return Central American asylum seekers unilaterally to Mexico \u2014 without the need for a
\nbilateral agreement, according to a summary of the bill from the House Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
Persuading Mexico to sign a safe third country agreement could be difficult, in part because the
\ngoverning party of President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto, whose candidate is trailing badly in the race for
\nthe presidency, does not want to appear to be making any concessions to the Trump
\nadministration.
\nIn addition, the Mexican asylum program is overwhelmed.
\nWhile the Mexican government has made improvements to the program in recent years,
\nadvocates say, the system remains deeply flawed, with inadequate staffing and funding for the
\ncountry\u2019s refugee agency, uneven training and supervision of immigration agents and
\ninconsistent adjudication of asylum law.
\n\u201cThe administration has waged a yearlong campaign to undermine the asylum system and vilify
\nthose who seek protection at our border,\u201d Eleanor Acer, director of the refugee protection
\nprogram at Human Rights First, said Thursday. \u201cToday\u2019s negotiations are merely the latest tactic
\nto shut the door on those who are desperate to live in freedom and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a large caravan of Central American migrants approached the northern border of Mexico last month, the Trump administration launched a campaign to turn back the group. Unwelcoming statements were issued by American officials, including Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, who told migrants who intended to apply for asylum in the United States that they \u201cshould\u201d instead seek… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1749,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748\/revisions\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}