US says asylum-seeking migrants to wait in Mexico
209 views · Published 25 December 2018 · 3:04 · Indexed 29 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(20 Dec 2018) Migrants heading to the southwest border to seek asylum in the United States will have to wait in Mexico until their claims are processed, under an agreement between the two countries announced on Thursday that will affect tens of thousands of people each month. Only about 9 percent of people are actually granted asylum. The Trump administration says too many migrants make false claims. "They will not be able to disappear into the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Thursday in remarks before the House Judiciary Committee. "They will have to wait for approval. If they are granted asylum by a U.S. judge, they will be welcomed into America. If they are not, they will be removed to their home countries." Discussions on the arrangement have been going on between the two countries for months, well before the new leadership took over in Mexico on Dec. 1. On Thursday, the Mexican foreign ministry said Mexico had agreed to it on a temporary basis for humanitarian reasons, and it would affect those "who entered that country or had been apprehended at border entry points, and who have been interviewed by that country's immigration authorities and who have received a court date to appear before an immigration judge." Thursday, Nielsen also commented to lawmakers on the recent death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl, Jakelin Caal Maquin, who died of dehydration and shock after being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in New Mexico. "Her death has deeply affected the Border Patrol agents involved in her case, and the entire department. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones and our entire department mourns this tragedy," Nielsen said. While the number of immigrants caught crossing the border illegally has fallen since the 1990s and early 2000s, U.S. authorities have been grappling in recent years with an increase in children traveling alone or with family. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/bf8886be37db3f573d182405f8d7a82b
