Trump’s restrictions to hamper the political asylum process

The Trump administration proposed on multiple occasions to implement a merit-based immigration system and decrease humanitarian alternatives or relief programs for the most vulnerable immigrant populations such as asylum seekers, refugees, minors who came to the US without legal documentation and foreigners from countries experiencing precarious situations.

For former President Trump and his cabinet, immigration becomes a burden and is detrimental to the local market, the economy and American workers when it is not controlled, measured and regulated by the federal government.

Speaking specifically about political asylum, the Trump administration used multiple tools such as federal entities, executive actions, and memoranda to narrow possibilities to seek international protection through political asylum in the US.

The former president stated on multiple occasions that immigrants take advantage of humanitarian alternatives to reside and work in the US, despite the fact that they do not meet mandatory requirements to request political asylum and their applications are usually denied.

Therefore, his government implemented multiple policies that restricted, modified and hindered the political asylum process for immigrants fleeing from danger, persecution, violence, war, political conflicts, inter alia.

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The Biden administration plans to help the most vulnerable immigrant communities

The president elected by the American population in November 2020 took office on January 20, 2021. Joe Biden and his team have a different view when it comes to immigration and state that the US should open its doors to foreign workers, who boost the economy in times of crisis, and to communities in need of international assistance.

Therefore, according to sources close to the White House, President Biden wants to officially remove multiple policies implemented by Trump on the political asylum program. The Biden administration plans to announce these changes no later than next week.

Let’s see some examples:

• The Biden administration plans to rescind the “Safe Third Country” policy, which states that asylum seekers who pass through other countries before arriving in the US must first request political asylum there.
• The MPP (Migrant Protection Protocol) or “Remain in Mexico” policy was implemented by the Trump administration in 2019. Under this policy, asylum seekers must remain in Mexico until they receive a response to their immigration applications.
  The DHS (Department of Homeland Security), during Biden’s first day in office, suspended new enrollments in this program, stating that it goes against the US values as an immigrant nation. Adding to that, the Biden administration plans to permanently remove this policy.
• 20 days before leaving office, President Trump signed ACAs (Asylum Cooperation Agreements) with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, also known as the Northern Triangle of Central America. These agreements state that the US has the power and the right to send asylum seekers to these countries, even though they do not meet the requirements to be considered “safe territories” for immigrants in need of international protection.
  The Biden administration plans to rescind this policy and implement other strategies to reduce immigration by improving the quality of life for Central American citizens.

It is important to clarify that, although some of these policies are not currently active, the Trump administration did not remove them from the immigration system. Therefore, the Biden government wants to rescind them to prevent future administrations from using them and putting the integrity of vulnerable populations at risk.

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