A caravan of migrants moving from Honduras towards the border with the United States has asked the new Biden government to honor its “commitments” to migrants moving north, citing the new government’s promise to ease Trump’s restrictions to the asylum.
But on Sunday, an unidentified Biden transition official said that migrants hoping to apply for asylum in the United States during the first weeks of the new administration “need to understand that they will not be able to enter the United States immediately,” NBC News reports.
MIGRANT CARAVAN REQUIRES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ‘HONOR YOUR COMMITMENTS’
More than 1,000 Honduran migrants moved to Guatemala on Friday without registering as part of a larger caravan that left a Honduran city earlier in the day.
The Associated Press said they expected a warm welcome when they reached the border with the United States, and a statement issued by the migrant rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, on behalf of the caravan, said it expected the Biden government to take action.
Transition officer Biden, however, warned migrants against coming to the United States during the early days of the new government, telling NBC that although “help is on the way,” now “it is not time to make the trip”.
“The situation at the border is not going to change overnight,” the official told the vehicle.
“We have to send a message that health and hope are on the way, but coming now doesn’t make sense for your own safety … as long as we implement processes that they can access in the future,” said the official.
BIDEN OFFICERS EXHIBIT CARE OF ‘DAY ONE’ IMMIGRATION CHANGES, SAY SOME ‘WILL TAKE TIME’
President-elect Joe Biden has promised to reverse many of Trump’s policies on border security and immigration. He promised to end the Migrants Protection Protocols (MPP), which keep migrants in Mexico pending their political asylum hearings. The Trump administration said the program helped end the attraction factors that bring migrants north, but critics say it is cruel and puts them at risk.
Biden also promised a path to legal permanent residence for those in the country illegally and a moratorium on deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The group of migrants also pointed out promises to end the asylum cooperation agreements the government made with the countries of the North Triangle.
President Trump warned last week that ending his policies and increasing incentives would lead to “a gigantic wave of illegal immigration, a wave like you’ve never seen before”, claiming that there were already signs of increased flows.
Adam Shaw of Fox News contributed to this report.