Defenders of immigration rights are asking the new Biden government to honor its “commitments” to asylum seekers – while a caravan of thousands of Hondurans is headed for the border with the United States.
“We recognize the importance of the next United States Government having demonstrated a strong commitment to migrants and asylum seekers, which represents an opportunity for the governments of Mexico and Central America to develop migration policies and management that respect and promote human rights. of the mobile population, ”said Pueblo Sin Fronteras in a statement released by Fox News.
“We will advocate that the Biden government honor its commitments.”
The statement was made when more than 1,000 people from a Honduran caravan moved to Guatemala on Friday. The caravan, which includes more than 5,000 people in total, may be the first to reach the border with the United States after Biden’s inauguration.
Pueblo Sin Fronteras asked Biden to work with the Mexican government and Central American countries to deal with the roots of illegal immigration.
The Biden administration needs to “dismantle illegal and inhuman programs like Remain in Mexico, the United States asylum cooperation agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as the expulsion of Title 42 by the authorities of the United States,” he said.
The Title 42 program allows Customs and Border Protection officials to immediately expel anyone illegally crossing the border to their country of last transit.
Remain in Mexico, implemented in January 2019, requires U.S. asylum seekers to remain in the country while they wait for their cases to be heard by U.S. immigration courts.
The Biden administration has promised a more humane approach to illegal migrants and a reversal of some of President Trump’s most controversial policies – but has warned that the changes will not happen overnight.
“Our priority is to reopen asylum processing at the border according to the ability to do it safely and protect public health, especially in the context of COVID-19,” said Biden policy consultant Susan Rice in a statement. recent interview with the Spanish news agency FFE.
“This effort will start immediately, but it will take months to develop the capacity that we will need to fully reopen.”