The Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

[rooster59]

Trump limits asylum from Mexico border, caravans head north

 

A customs and border patrol agent stands with U.S. military personnel during a tour fo the San Ysidro port of entry from Mexico in San Diego, California, U.S. November 9, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday effectively suspended the granting of asylum to migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, seeking fresh ways to block thousands of Central Americans travelling in caravans from entering the United States.

 

The order, which goes into effect on Saturday, means that migrants will have to present themselves at U.S. ports of entry to qualify for asylum. U.S. immigrant advocates rushed to court to try to block the policy.

 

"I just signed the proclamation on asylum - very important," Trump told reporters on Friday before leaving for Paris. "People can come in but they have to come in through the points of entry."

 

The order followed other rules unveiled on Thursday that sought to limit asylum claims.

 

Trump made his hard-line policies toward immigration a key issue ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections. He has vowed to deploy troops at the border to stop a caravan of mainly Honduran migrants, currently edging their way through Mexico.

 

Several hundred of the caravan started north again on Friday after a rest in Mexico City. Many of them have said they want to seek asylum in the United States, citing violence in their own countries.

 

Trump's proclamation said mass migration on the border had precipitated a crisis and he was acting to protect the national interest.

 

The order will be in effect for 90 days or until the United States reaches an agreement with Mexico allowing it to turn back asylum-seekers who had travelled through Mexico, whichever comes first.

 

U.S. and Mexican diplomats have held talks over the issue this year, but there has been little indication Mexico would agree to such a pact.

 

Mexico's interior ministry had no comment on the Trump order, an official at the ministry said.

 

INJUNCTION SOUGHT

 

Three civil rights groups sued on Friday in San Francisco federal court, seeking an injunction against Trump's order.

 

The lawsuit said the order violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows anyone present in the United States to seek asylum regardless of where they entered the country.

 

"President Trump's new asylum ban is illegal. Neither the president nor his cabinet secretaries can override the clear commands of U.S. law, but that's exactly what they're trying to do," Omar Jadwat of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.

 

The lawsuit was brought by ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Center for Constitutional Rights.

 

Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell Law School, said the administration may struggle to justify the national security concerns underpinning the order, as the flow of migrants across the southern border has fallen in recent years.

 

"We also have an obligation under international law not to return people to a country where they fear persecution," he said.

 

Currently, migrants who cross into the United States illegally from Mexico can claim asylum, an option chosen by many families with children who hand themselves in to border guards. Asylum seekers who opt to cross at official entry points often wait for days before they enter U.S. territory.

 

Rights groups have said the Trump administration has deliberately slowed the processing of migrants at official ports.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday the United States must make sure anyone seeking refugee protection and in need of humanitarian assistance can get both promptly and "without obstruction."

 

Many of the hundreds of Central American migrants who left Mexico City on Friday to press north towards the United States boarded subways before dawn to reach the outskirts of the vast capital.

 

The bulk of a further 4,500 people gathered at a Mexico City stadium are expected to follow them over the weekend.

"We're hungry, we can't keep waiting, we're moving on," said Honduran migrant Roni Suazo at a bustling subway station. "Our mission is to go to the United States, not Mexico."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-10

[bluesofa]

[Sakeopete]

The USA is such an awefull place under Trump yet everyone still wants to go there and none of the American celebrities have moved away like they promised.

[Tug]

When I think of a mother walking over a thousand with her kids through a hostile dangerous country in search of safty and a better life then I see this wealthy privileged rasist draft dodging money laundering wrecking ball train wreck of a human being he is a disgrace to the USA he is unamerican I think he is the one that should be deported that being said I do not espouse open borders those mothers show more heart than Donald will ever have and at minimum they deserve a fair and impartial hearing and judgment if found lacking they should be safely returned to there home country

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm confused now...

 

So, is it Trump imitating Thailand on asylum policy?  Or is it Thailand imitating Trump?

 

Actually, I think Thailand has been into the turn away (or otherwise abuse) refugees/asylum seekers a lot longer than Trump has...

 

[Trouble]

3 hours ago, Tug said:

When I think of a mother walking over a thousand with her kids through a hostile dangerous country in search of safty and a better life then I see this wealthy privileged rasist draft dodging money laundering wrecking ball train wreck of a human being he is a disgrace to the USA he is unamerican I think he is the one that should be deported that being said I do not espouse open borders those mothers show more heart than Donald will ever have and at minimum they deserve a fair and impartial hearing and judgment if found lacking they should be safely returned to there home country

One can certainly feel sympathy for people fleeing bad situations in their home country but let's face a few facts. No country whether it be the wealthy counties like the USA, Germany or others can possibly absorb everyone who would like to come for a better life. If there is no order then there is chaos. If 4,000 people in a caravan enter and are accepted for asylum hearings then there will be another 4,000, and then 10,000, and so on. It seems that some would say that it is okay for anyone who manages to enter the country from anywhere in the world, should be accepted. How can this possibly be of benefit to the citizens of the country.  It's like opening your home for a homeless person and then finding 100's at the front door demanding to have a place to stay.  In Los Angeles it is getting more and more difficult to find people whose first language is English.  Just a fact of life that I have to accept but also what is happening is that older people like me who can afford to leave are seeking places elsewhere to live because of the general deterioration of places like LA or San Francisco which are becoming overcrowded.  It's a fact of life and it is happening here now.  The poor and helpless that manage to get in then require medical and social services for years to come and we pay to educate their children in schools ill equipped to do so.  Their are real pressures put on services and the cities as a whole. Less tax money is used to keep up the cities and more goes to social services. It puts a real strain on local budgets. Cost of housing rises and local governments try to compensate by passing rent control laws telling an apartment owner what he can charge.  Might as well also be telling supermarkets what they can charge for food.  Everyone says they are not racist and every wants diversity but what happens is that they don't want the diversity on their street or in their neighborhood. Immigration must be at a pace that the local, state, and federal government can accommodate and integrate the immigrants into the social structure. Public schools in Los Angeles are mostly minority children these days. Depending on ethnicity some students (asians) do well and others fail miserably. Whites send their kids to private schools.  Charter schools have seen a lot of re-segregation. That's a fact of life when immigration occurs too quickly and overloads the resources available.  So people can advocate for open borders or for letting the caravans in,  but when it comes to living in a diverse culture many vote with their feet and move their families to neighborhoods that are not so diverse and people re-segregate themselves. Los Angeles is full of pockets of immigrant communities. There seems to be less and less commonality of culture and mores. Will it become blended in the future or will continuing influx of new people constantly be a force for separating people in the future. It's going to be an interesting 21st century for sure.  A interesting article for reference: https://www.vox.com/2017/1/18/14296126/white-segregated-suburb-neighborhood-cartoon 

[Stargeezr]

I have seen lots of news footage of this caravan, and a big majority is young men. That is a mass of economic refugees. Yes there are some women in It as well, no doubt shown on CNN, but I do not see this bunch of people as something the US needs. They can do the legal way into USA or Canada like the rest do.

[Tug]

Mr trouble sir with all due respect the border hasent been this quiet since the 70s and if what you say is true ie we will be over run with refugees why pray tell dident that happen a long time ago?the option has been there to seek asylum it’s just trump trying to sow fear and divison no more no less try to watch bbc news pbs news along with fox to get a more balanced view 

[Credo]

35 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

I have seen lots of news footage of this caravan, and a big majority is young men. That is a mass of economic refugees. Yes there are some women in It as well, no doubt shown on CNN, but I do not see this bunch of people as something the US needs. They can do the legal way into USA or Canada like the rest do.

There is no reason to believe that they plan to enter the US illegally.   The plan is to present themselves at the border and request asylum.   They will be given a pre-screening interview to determine if there is any merit to their claim.   Quite a few will be quickly weeded out and given the option of returning voluntarily.   If not then they will go through deportation.   

Of those who have a reasonable asylum claim, they will get a full asylum hearing.   Currently, I believe the denial rate for those having a full hearing is around 60%.

 

[Trouble]

30 minutes ago, Tug said:

Mr trouble sir with all due respect the border hasent been this quiet since the 70s and if what you say is true ie we will be over run with refugees why pray tell dident that happen a long time ago?the option has been there to seek asylum it’s just trump trying to sow fear and divison no more no less try to watch bbc news pbs news along with fox to get a more balanced view 

I am not saying we are being overrun with refugees but a couple of facts may be enlightening. More and more people are using the asylum requests than in the past. It is a known fact that people are being educated on how to use the asylum request as a way of getting in vs just hopping the fence as there is no way in most cases to verify their claims.  The latest I read, there were some 311,000 pending asylum cases as of January of this year. Decisions on these cases can take years. According to the Huffington Post only 65,000 decisions were made in the US in 2017. The backlog has grown by more than 1,750% over the last five years and the rate of new asylum applications has more than tripled. This means that those waiting and who might not warrant asylum status sit in the US for years before their cases are adjudicated. They end up establishing a life while waiting. There is now an attempt to deal with more recent asylum seekers and let the older cases linger.  The entire system is a mess and seems like many on the political left seem to think there is nothing wrong with breaking the rules. Half of Central America would be in the US if given the chance, that would probably go for Africa and much of the Middle East too. So the question is how many is acceptable to enter the USA per year.  The people doing the process legally waiting 7 or 8 years get screwed while the rule breakers seem to get a free ticket.  The political will to deal with the issues is not there because politicians on both sides want nothing more than to stay in their congressional seats.  Politicians do not serve the citizens of the country by not stepping up to the plate and figuring out compromises and fixing the problem. I would ask one question of you and that's if the border has been so quiet why do we have 15 to 20 million (numbers widely thrown around) more illegals in the country now than after Reagan's Amnesty in 1986? There are currently about 37 million legal immigrants in the country. If one adds the illegal immigrant population, it's over 50 million foreign born, the highest percentage level going back to 1860.   If one understands that about 15% of the total population is now foreign born and where the majority of these immigrants settle, it does not take much to understand why there are so many pressures on the big cities and how it is far to rapidly changing the demographics of society and leading to self segregation.  My only interest is to point out that if one looks at the situation, I don't foresee some kumbaya moment in the future where everything is hunky-dory. Just my humble opinion, but this is all leading to overpopulation, cheap labor, loss of the middle class and problems for cities that will make things today seem mild. Just my take. Let me make clear I am NOT anti-immigrant. I just think it needs to be slowed down and controlled.  We need politicians on both sides that use common sense to solve problems and not emotion to get votes. Sorry about being so long winded.

[helpisgood]

This caravan cannot be nearly as bad as the one that entered the northeast USA many years ago.  The earlier one later resulted in many acts of genocide and the death of millions of Americans.  They, however, came by a ship called the Mayflower.