US to send asylum-seekers to Honduras, bypassing American asylum

The U.S. is preparing to send asylum seekers to Honduras, even if they are not from the Central American country, and effectively end their chances of seeking asylum in the United States ...

Under an agreement signed in New York on Sept. 25 by Kevin McAleenan, at the time the secretary of Homeland Security, and Honduras’ foreign minister, Maria Dolores Aguero, adults and families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border could be sent to Honduras without the opportunity of seeking asylum in the U.S.

A source provided a copy of the agreement to the Times. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The Trump administration has reached similar agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala, obligating them to take other Central Americans who reach the U.S. border. The administration described the agreements as an “effort to share the distribution of hundreds of thousands of asylum claims.” ...

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter limits on immigration, called the latest agreement “pretty significant.”

“It’s an important part of a broad effort to return asylum to the narrow use for which it was intended,” he said ...

CAIRCO Research

Refugee Resettlement Watch, censored by Wordpress.com, is now live and online, Article by Fred Elbel, September 2, 2019