WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2020) US Congressmen Eliot Engel, Joaquin Castro and Albio Sires said they are investigating the Trump administration's immigration agreements with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala over concerns that they jeopardize the safety of asylum-seeking migrants returned to those countries.
"We write to express our concern that the 'safe third country agreements' that the Trump Administration recently signed with El Salvador and Honduras, like the one with Guatemala that members of Congress wrote to oppose in June of last year, are illegal, dangerous, and antithetical to American values," the lawmakers said in a letter to the State Department released on Friday.
The lawmakers said migrants are not guaranteed protection in these Central American countries, which they usually flee because of persecution.
The letter said as of late 2019, the Trump administration has already deported 698 asylum-seeking migrants to Guatemala as part of the bilateral agreement with the country. Of the 698 migrants, only 24 have been able to get protection under Guatemala's asylum system, the letter added.
The congressmen are requesting Pompeo provide all documents and make available senior State Department officials related to the negotiations of the "safe third country" agreements by March 13.
The so-called safe third country agreements, formally known as the Asylum Cooperation Agreements (ACA), are bilateral deals to help alleviate the number of migrants seeking asylum in the United States. Most recently, migrants have been deported from the United States to Guatemala to seek asylum there.
