State Secretary Antony Blinken
Antony Blinken The GOP senator asks Biden to confirm that the US will maintain the embassy in Jerusalem Blinken, Saudi counterpart discussing Yemen on the first call. Five things you need to know about Biden’s move to Yemen MORE announced on Saturday that the U.S. will end the asylum agreements that the Trump administration has signed with three Central American nations.
Under Trump-era policy, several asylum seekers seeking refuge on the U.S.-Mexico border were forced to seek asylum first in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras.
The United States “suspended and initiated the process to terminate the Asylum Cooperation Agreements with the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as the first concrete steps on the road to greater partnership and collaboration in the region established by President Biden,” Blinken said in an announcement.
We will deliver in @POTUSvision of safe, orderly and humane regional migration. As we suspend and close the Asylum Cooperation Agreements with the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, we will take concrete steps towards greater partnership and collaboration.
– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 6, 2021
The Trump administration reached an agreement in 2019 as part of its efforts to curb immigration and reduce the number of refugees entering the U.S. It has never been formally promulgated between the United States and Honduras or El Salvador, according to the State Department, and the coronavirus pandemic has suspended all transfers between the United States and Guatemala since last March.
President Biden signed several executive immigration-related actions last week, including one requiring the State Department to “readily” assess whether it informed authorities in the other three countries that the United States intended to withdraw from the agreement, Reuters noted.
“To be clear, these actions do not mean that the United States’ border is open. While we are committed to expanding legal avenues for protection and opportunities here and in the region, the United States is a country with borders and laws that must be complied with, ”said Blinken in the statement. “We are also committed to providing safe and orderly processing for everyone who arrives at our border, but those who try to migrate irregularly are putting themselves and their families at risk on what can be a very dangerous journey.”
Read more at The Hill:
Biden’s immigration policy goes beyond reversing Trump