Trump Weighs Plan To Choke Off Asylum For Central Americans
President Donald Trump is considering sweeping restrictions on asylum that would effectively block Central American migrants from entering the U.S., according to several administration officials and advocates briefed on the plan.
A draft proposal circulating among Trump’s Homeland Security advisers would prohibit migrants from seeking asylum if they have resided in a country other than their own before coming to the U.S., according to a DHS official and an outside advocate familiar with the plan, Politico reports.
If executed, it would deny asylum to thousands of migrants waiting just south of the border, many of whom have trekked a perilous journey through Mexico.
Trump alluded to the asylum changes Thursday as he departed for Colorado, telling reporters he is “going to do something very dramatic on the border” and would announce it in a “big league statement.”
Immigration advocates familiar with the proposal expressed alarm at its scope, even as they questioned whether it would hold up in court. U.S. law allows refugees to request asylum when they arrive on U.S. soil but has long included an exemption for those who have already emigrated to a safe country.
The move could reach beyond Central America, affecting asylum seekers in other parts of the world, according to an activist who has been briefed on the issue.
