The United States and three Central American countries have tentatively agreed on a joint effort to halt a flood of migrant families and unaccompanied minors heading toward the US border to apply for asylum, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a congressional testimony on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) The United States and three Central American countries have tentatively agreed on a joint effort to halt a flood of migrant families and unaccompanied minors heading toward the US border to apply for asylum, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a congressional testimony on Wednesday.
"We have worked tirelessly with the Northern Triangle Countries... to deal with the root causes of migration and to address the challenges at the source," Nielsen told the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. "This month, I am happy to report that we expect to sign a historic regional compact, the first ever with those countries to counter irregular migration, human smuggling, trafficking and the formation of caravans."
More than 76,000 illegals crossed into the United States without authorization in February, an 11-year high, US immigration officials reported earlier this week. The vast majority came from the Central America's so called Northern Triangle: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
More than half of last month's border crossers were either family units or minors without parents, Nielsen said in her testimony.
Moreover, migrants are increasingly grouped in large caravans, with more than 70 groups of 100 or more arriving at the US border last year to request political asylum, Nielsen added.
Congressional Democrats, including Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, have said the Trump administration has manufactured a fake crisis in order to build a wall on the US border with Mexico.
