Trump: Mexico will hold US-bound refugees while claims processed

WASHINGTON, United States — Asylum seekers hoping to enter the US via its southern border will have to wait in Mexico while they are assessed, President Donald Trump announced Saturday, appearing to confirm a report about a bilateral deal published by The Washington Post.

The move was cautiously welcomed by some refugees currently at the border, even as Mexico's incoming interior minister Olga Sanchez Cordero, who was quoted by the Post as confirming the agreement, later issued a denial.

"Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court," Trump wrote on Twitter.

He added that the US "will allow those who come into our Country legally" and emphasized: "All will stay in Mexico."

The deal, which would overhaul US border policy, comes with Trump outraged over the presence of thousands of Central American migrants who marched to Mexico's border city of Tijuana hoping to enter the US for a better life free from the poverty and gang violence in their homelands.

"For now, we have agreed to this policy of Remain in Mexico," the Post quoted Sanchez Cordero as saying. The government of new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will enter office on December 1.

But her office later issued a statement saying: "There is no agreement of any type between the future federal government of Mexico and that of the United States of America."

Trump has sent almost 6,000 soldiers to the Mexican border in support of Customs and Border Protection agents and National Guard troops already there, to forestall what Trump has called an "invasion" by "very bad people."

After a trek of more than a month from Honduras, nearly 5,000 migrants -- including women and children -- are now in Tijuana living in a makeshift shelter.

A potential breakthrough

Trump "is within his right. He is in his government," but he is not like other presidents in his views of migrants, said a resident of the shelter, Carolina Flores, 38, of Honduras.

"He sees us as a bug that is going to eat there," she added. "We come for an opportunity!"

Another Honduran in the shelter, Orlinda Morales, 31, a housewife, said the reported new asylum rules seem "very good" because migrants will not be in limbo. "We will get work here," she said.

Hundreds of the migrants lined up this week at a special jobs fair set up for them in the manufacturing city, but others remain determined to reach the US.

No formal agreement has been signed, the Post said, but US officials view the deal, which would see would-be refugees' cases heard by US courts in Mexico, as a potential breakthrough in deterring migration.

US asylum officers will begin implementing the new procedures in coming days or weeks, Homeland Security officials cited by the Post said.

Asylum seekers will be given an initial screening to determine whether they face imminent danger by staying in Mexico, where violence is widespread.

Deportation to the homeland

American officials will be able to process at least twice as many asylum claims under the new system because they would not be limited by detention space at US ports of entry, the Post report said.

It added that under the new rules, an applicant whose asylum claim is denied would not be allowed to return to Mexico but would remain in US custody pending immediate deportation to his or her home country.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made no mention of a deal but said that he and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had "a constructive meeting" with Mexico's future foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard over the caravans.

"We have affirmed our shared commitment to addressing the current challenge. The caravans will not be permitted to enter the United States. There are real dangers to the safety and human rights of migrants from those who would prey on them," Pompeo said.

He added that he was looking forward to working with Mexico's new government, including on ways to spur job creation "to benefit the government and people of Mexico."

In 2018, border patrols registered more than 400,000 illegal crossers, according to Homeland Security, and in the last five years, the number of those requesting asylum has increased by 2,000 percent.

Less than 10 percent of cases result in asylum being granted, the government says.

Last week, a US federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from denying asylum to people who enter the country illegally.

The president issued a proclamation earlier this month saying that only people who enter the US at official checkpoints -- as opposed to sneaking across the border -- can apply for asylum.

source: philstar.com

Pope to mayors: Don't build towers, expand piazzas

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is urging Italian mayors to redouble their efforts to welcome migrants and refugees and promote ways to integrate them into their new communities.

In a meeting yesterday with the mayors, Francis said he understood the difficulties of providing accommodation and services for the waves of migrants who have arrived in Italy in recent years. But he called for a new ethics-based model of local leadership "that doesn't leave those who arrive on our territory on the margins," and creates spaces for people to meet and get to know one another.

He said: "It's not about building higher towers, but expanding piazzas."

This week Francis launched an education campaign urging politicians and people to go out and meet migrants and hear their stories, rather than considering them faceless statistics.

source: philstar.com

Trump’s attacks on courts over travel ban dismay his own SC pick

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump renewed his attack on the courts Wednesday, describing them as "so political" as a panel of judges weigh his executive order barring refugees and visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries.

The contentious ban has been frozen by the courts and has embroiled Trump in an arm wrestle with the judicial branch, less than three weeks into his presidency.

Speaking to police chiefs and sheriffs, Trump condemned as "disgraceful" a hearing Tuesday in which three federal appeals judges heard arguments appeared skeptical about the government's case to reinstate the ban.

"Courts seem to be so political," he said.

Trump's comments have sparked a firestorm in a country where such personal and vitriolic attacks by a president on another, independent branch of government are rare.

The uproar extended to Trump's own Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

He described Trump's attack on the Seattle judge who froze the ban as "disheartening" and "demoralizing," according to spokesman Ron Bonjean.

Trump's ban was suspended nationwide on Friday, after two US states sought to have it overturned on grounds of religious discrimination and because it had caused "irreparable injury."

New attorney general

The agency tasked with defending the ban in court amid the legal standoff got its new chief, after the US Senate overrode fierce opposition to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

His nomination process saw fierce debate about his civil rights record and Democratic concern over whether he serves as the top US law enforcement officer independent from President Donald Trump.

In the hearing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Justice Department lawyer argued that the president had clear authority to order the ban on national security grounds.

"This is a traditional national security judgment that is assigned to the political branches and the president," August Flentje said.

Critics of the ban claim it violates the US Constitution by discriminating against people on the basis of their religion.

"Has the government pointed to any evidence connecting these countries with terrorism?" asked Judge Michelle Friedland, who was appointed by Barack Obama.

Flentje said the government had not had an opportunity to present such evidence, given the speed at which the case had moved.

The court must decide whether to maintain the lower court's suspension, modify it or lift it. The ruling by the judges -- two were appointed by Democratic presidents and a third by a Republican -- is expected before the end of the week.

The case is likely to eventually wind up on appeal in the US Supreme Court, which currently is short-handed and evenly divided between liberal and conservative justices. A tie there would leave in place the appeals court decision.

Should Trump's nominee to fill the vacant seat be confirmed by the Senate, he could break the tie.

'Horrible, dangerous and wrong'

Trump vented his frustration in tweets, referring to the ban's suspension as "the horrible, dangerous and wrong decision."

He went further in a rambling speech to the law enforcement chiefs, which at points drew polite applause.

"It's really incredible to me that we have a court case that's going on so long," he said.

Trump then read out the text of a law -- interspersed with his commentary -- that confers on the president authority to suspend entry to any alien or class of alien deemed detrimental to the interests of the United States.

His decree summarily denied entry to all refugees for 120 days, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria were blocked indefinitely.

Top administration officials have argued it is needed to keep out Islamic State and Al-Qaeda fighters migrating from Middle East hotspots, insisting time is needed to implement stricter vetting procedures.

Travel analysis firm ForwardKeys says travel bookings to the United States fell 6.5 percent the week after the ban, compared to last year, with a sharp drop in numbers from the targeted countries.

Blame shifting

The sudden rollout of the restrictions, and their blanket nature, sparked protests and international condemnation. Polls now show eroding public support for the move in the United States, amid jubilant scenes at airports of returning immigrants.

Shifting the blame to his security advisers, Trump said he had proposed giving a one-month notice, but his law enforcement experts told him "people will pour in before the toughness."

"I think it's sad, I think it's a sad day," Trump said.

"I think our security is at risk today, and it will be at risk until such time as we are entitled and get what we are entitled to as citizens of this country, as chiefs, as sheriffs of this country. We want security."

source: interaksyon.com