Management Joe Biden The process of concluding so-called Refugee Cooperation Agreements (ACAs) signed during the Trump years with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, which allowed asylum seekers to be deported to these countries, has begun. This was announced this Saturday by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as the first step in making changes to the asylum system made by the Trump administration.

“In line with the President’s vision, we have informed the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that the United States is taking this step as it initiates efforts to establish a cooperative and mutually respectful approach in managing immigration in the region.” Blinken said in a statement.

The ACAs, signed in 2019 with three Central American countries, require people seeking asylum in the United States to first apply for protection in one of those countries. As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in the United States, the agreements allowed U.S. officials to deport applicants to countries where hundreds of people are fleeing.

The State Department said agreements with El Salvador and Honduras have not yet been implemented, while the agreement signed with Guatemala came into force, but deportation in its defense due to the epidemic has been suspended since March 2020. Until then, about 700 Hondurans and Salvadorans had been deported from the United States to Guatemala under the framework of the treaty, also known as the “Safe Third Country”.

“These actions do not mean that the U.S. border is open,” Blingen warns. But the Secretary of State believes the new administration has “more appropriate ways to work” with these countries. On immigration policy, President Biden said this week Your desire to address the “root causes” They argue that Central American emigration, Trump’s attempts to build a wall on the border, led to a slight or ineffective practice that led to the boycott of the action, which led to the resettlement of the population.