Trump's New Asylum Seeker Plan: Could Be Good News (or Not) for Those at Border

Asylum seekers piled up at our Southern border 

(their fate uncertain)

Updated here from Bloomberg (November 26): Mexico’s incoming new president/government said no deal has been reached with the U.S. on the treatment of migrants attempting to cross in from Mexico, pushing back on [Trump] reports that such an agreement has been made – even as a busy border crossing was already closed.

Original post follows from here with this headline:

“Report: Trump makes tentative deal, asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for U. S. entry”

FOX NEWS.COM – The Trump administration has reportedly made a deal with Mexico’s incoming government to require all asylum-seekers coming from the south of the border to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims goes through court.

The Washington Post, citing Mexican officials and senior members of president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s transition team, reports that the so-called “Remain in Mexico Plan” would:

• Require asylum applicants to stay in Mexico.

• End the so-called “Catch-and-Release” practice of the past.

• Allow asylum seekers already in the U.S. to stay while their application is being reviewed.

Should the policy be implemented, it would mark a significant victory for President Trump, whose tough immigration stance – including his promises to end catch-and-release and build a wall – was the central part of his political platform before and since his election.

The White House did not comment on the reported deal but Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gridley told FOX News: “President Trump has developed a strong relationship with the incoming Obrador Administration, and we look forward to working with them on a wide range of issues.”

My 2 cents: This is potentially good news for those with a valid, verified reason for seeking asylum in the U.S. It could help solve this old continuing policy that Trump has blasted (e.g., the previous so-called “Catch and Release” policy – which IS NOT as Trump professes. 

– to wit:  Facts from here in part (Washington Post):

“Catch and release” entered the political lexicon during the George W. Bush administration.

Immigration rose sharply from 2000 to 2010, as 14 million new legal and undocumented immigrants settled in the United States, according to census data. 

At the same time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have enough space to house all the undocumented immigrants being apprehended. So the Bush administration would release many of these immigrants under their own recognizance — and many of them would then fail to report for their immigration hearings. 

So, time will tell about how this “policy” might unfold or collapse if Trump changes his mind – which is his normal routine character move to get what he wants no matter the result or final cost to anyone. We shall see so stay tuned.

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