Page 4 - aruba-today-20190914

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 14 September 2019

Trump official says asylum

changes will drive down backlog

By COLLEEN LONG and EL- consequential move of that process would take.
LIOT SPAGAT President Donald Trump’s Cuccinelli said the new
Associated Press crackdown on immigra- policy could mean more
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top tion, a signature issue as refugees allowed into the
Trump administration immi- he heads into a re-election country next budget year.
gration official defended campaign. Officials have been eye-
the effort to effectively end Critics have accused the ing drastic cuts from 30,000
asylum at the U.S.-Mexico administration of callously to 10,000. Asylum officers
border for nearly all mi- closing the door on people are a separate pool from

In this Aug. 12, 2019, file photo, acting Director of United States grants, saying Friday it was fleeing persecution and refugee officers, but many
Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli speaks necessary to drive down a abandoning America’s hu- have been reassigned
during a briefing at the White House, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019, in massive backlog of immi- manitarian tradition. to the backlog of asylum
Washington. Associated Press gration cases. Many of the officials who cases. “Our biggest true
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting make determinations on backlog is the asylum case
head of U.S. Citizenship asylum claims believe the backlog. Over half that
and Immigration Services, new regulations are wrong, backlog, 335,000 cases is
told The Associated Press according to Michael over two years old. That’s a
Friday that the Supreme Knowles, an asylum officer real backlog.”
Court’s decision this week and spokesman for the An unprecedented surge
to allow sweeping regula- AFGE National CIS Council of asylum-seeking families
tions to take effect while 119, which represents asy- from Central America has
litigation continued was a lum officers. overwhelmed U.S. authori-
big win for the government. “You’re asking us to do ties during Trump’s tenure.
“There’s no underselling it,” something that we believe Under another Trump ad-
he said. is unethical at best and ministration policy, intro-
The new policy will deny illegal — if not an egre- duced in January, more
asylum to nearly all mi- gious human rights abuse than 40,000 asylum seekers
grants arriving at the south- at worst. It creates a moral have been forced to wait
ern border who aren’t from dilemma for asylum officers in Mexico while their cases
Mexico because it disal- because they are made to wind through the clogged
lows anyone who passes feel individually complicit in immigration courts.
through another country that abuse,” he said. Even before the new re-
without first seeking and Avril Benoit, executive di- strictions took effect, many
failing to obtain asylum rector of Doctors Without were giving up while wait-
there. While officials say Borders, said the regula- ing in dangerous Mexican
it’s a crucial effort to help tions guarantee vulnerable border cities. Gustavo
ease strain on the system, people will be exploited, Banda, who manages the
it’s also a potentially potent forced to wait “in over- Ambassadors of Jesus shel-
deterrent. crowded shelters or on the ter in Tijuana for about 600
The rule falls most heav- street in unsafe cities along migrants, said recently that
ily on Central Americans, the US-Mexico border about half of residents who
mainly Hondurans and where they are targeted have been returned to
Guatemalans, because for robbery, extortion, and Mexico to wait for hearings
they account for most peo- kidnapping.” had returned home.
ple arrested or stopped at Administration officials Central American women
the border. have brushed aside con- staying at the shelter with
Juan Carlos Perla, 36, said cerns over safety, arguing young children said in inter-
Friday that many asylum that significant humani- views they felt unsafe out-
seekers from his native El tarian progress had been side the shelter and had no
Salvador have returned, in- made in countries like El job prospects in Tijuana.
cluding cousins who have Salvador and Guatemala. The sense of despair was
stayed with him in a rented Cuccinelli praised Trump evident at a recent immi-
two-room house with do- administration efforts he gration hearing in San Di-
nated furniture on the dis- said were working toward ego, where only five peo-
tant outskirts of Tijuana. lasting alliances. ple showed up on a docket
“People know that they Homeland Security officials of more than 40 cases.
aren’t going to be allowed said that asylum screening The first asylum seeker un-
in. They’re desperate. will look generally the same der the “Remain in Mexico”
Many don’t like it here. Life as before, with the added policy, a Honduran man
here isn’t easy,” he said. hurdled of an additional who crossed the border
But it’s also an enormous question on whether the in late January and spoke
setback for other asylum applicant had sought asy- to The Associated Press
seekers, including many lum elsewhere. last month on condition of
Africans, Haitians and Cu- Many asylum seekers de- anonymity out of fears for
bans who try to enter the nied refuge under the new his personal safety, said he
United States via Mexico. policy will be placed in often saw other Central
It is perhaps the biggest fast-track deportation pro- Americans toss their court
change to U.S. asylum ceedings and flown home documents in the garbage
policy since it was estab- at U.S. expense, authorities in Tijuana, certain they
lished in 1980 and the most said. It’s not clear how long would never get asylum.q