South of the border

The USA is home to one-in-five of all international migrants, some 46.6 million people. It is estimated that currently around 11.1 million of these migrants are “non-citizens”, who entered the country illegally, or whose documentation has expired. Almost three quarters of those are Mexican or Central American, principally from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Under President Donald Trump it is becoming more and more difficult for such migrants to enter the US. However, reforms to US immigration policy are set to have the most impact south of the border.

Mr. Trump is keen to fulfill one of his most controversial campaign promises. Construction companies recently unveiled models of the infamous US-Mexico border wall. “The prototypes of the wall in San Diego are highly symbolic of a toughening of immigration policy,” says Edith Zavala, executive director of the Central America and Mexico Immigration Alliance. “They are a clear signal to the migrant population that the government is going ahead with its promises.”

The drive for mass deportation under President Trump has already begun. Immigration reforms include the expansion of accelerated deportation processes and the termination of several programmes which allowed unauthorised migrants to regularise their status.

Thousands of Nicaraguans are set to lose their short-term deportation relief, no longer deemed eligible for Temporary Protection Status (TPS). Some 195,000 Salvadorans and 57,000 Hondurans will soon discover whether they face the same fate. Central American children can no longer join parents who are lawfully present in the US by applying for refuge.

President Trump also ended the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals programme, which granted temporary protection to around 800,000 beneficiaries who were brought to the US as children.

Read the full article on The World Weekly