(CNN) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Saturday that the Biden administration has suspended and started the process to end the Trump-era immigration agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The top US diplomat called the move to suspend the Asylum Cooperation Agreements with the three Northern Triangle nations as “the first concrete steps on the path to greater partnership and collaboration in the region established by President Biden.”
“Consistent with the president’s vision, we have notified the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras that the United States made this decision as efforts begin to establish a cooperative and mutually respectful approach to managing migration in the region,” Blinken said in a statement.
The United States signed agreements with Guatemala in July 2019 and with Him Salvador Y Honduras in September 2019 that would have limited the ability of some asylum seekers from these countries to seek asylum in the US and instead caused them to seek protection in their countries of origin.
Blinken noted in his statement that “transfers under the Asylum Cooperation Agreement between the United States and Guatemala had stopped since mid-March 2020 due to covid-19, and the agreements with El Salvador and Honduras were never implemented.”
“The Biden administration believes that there are more appropriate ways to work with our partner governments to manage migration throughout the region,” he said. “The United States will build on our strong relationships and support the efforts of these governments to address forced displacement without imposing an undue burden on them, especially in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. Our approach will continue to provide support for their national action plans under the Comprehensive Protection Framework and Regional Solutions through international humanitarian partners ”.
–
