A new letter castigates the administration’s decision to cancel Trump’s migration pacts with Mexico and Northern Triangle countries.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are demanding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Biden administration reimplement the Trump-era migrant-processing agreements between the U.S. and Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries that they canceled at the height of the current crisis on the southern border.
Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and all of the panel’s GOP members panned the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from the Migrant Protection Protocols with Mexico and the Asylum Cooperative Agreements that the U.S. struck with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. These agreements established a system for processing the claims of asylum seekers who had arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in those countries, instead of on U.S. soil.
The nearly two-dozen House Republicans, in a letter to Blinken obtained by National Review, castigate “the premature and politically-motivated decision to cancel the effective” agreements, blaming that move for contributing to the massive influx in border crossings that has taken place over the past several months.
When it revoked those Trump-era policies, the Biden administration argued that they sent migrants into unsafe conditions as they sought asylum, and that its own approach would address the root causes of migration instead. On February 16, the White House announced that the U.S. would start to process asylum seekers who had previously been told to wait in Mexico in the U.S. under the MPP (which is also called the “Remain in Mexico” policy).
Meanwhile, as the letter notes, attempted border crossings have risen significantly, and the arrival of unaccompanied minors to the border has increased 60 percent from January to February.
“We believe that an objective evaluation by the Administration would have concluded that the asylum agreements were stemming illegal migration flows and deterring individuals from making the dangerous journey to the United States. Instead, as Mexico’s President López Obrador has recently noted, the Administration ignored the risks and, by canceling Trump’s policies, created the perception among migrants wanting to cross the border that it is now easier to do so,” they write in the letter.
As the administration rolled back the migration pacts, President Biden and top administration officials have sent mixed signals about whether potential migrants should come to the United States. The letter notes Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas’s comments during a March 1 White House briefing stating, “We are not saying, ‘Don’t come.’ We are saying, ‘Don’t come now because we will be able to deliver a safe and orderly process to them as quickly as possible.’” During an interview with ABC on March 16, Biden told them, “I can say quite clearly: Don’t come.”
Former Trump officials have defended the MPP and the Northern Triangle country agreements as a robust diplomatic initiative that effectively removed any incentive to come to the U.S. border for asylum seekers who know they have weak cases. Earlier this month, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who played a leading role in crafting the asylum agreements, told National Review, “We worked with the Guatemalans, the Hondurans, the El Salvadorians, to deliver a set of outcomes that work for each of our countries and prevented what you see happening at the border today.”
In the letter, which they sent to Blinken on Saturday, the Republicans urge Biden to return to the pacts: “The Trump Administration’s agreements set up critical support for the region’s asylum systems and were built on the just concept of burden-sharing, which our partners appreciated and welcomed. We strongly urge you and Secretary Mayorkas to reimplement the agreements as soon as possible.”
They also remind Blinken that the omnibus spending measure passed last year included a bipartisan bill that required the State Department and USAID to come up with a strategy for dealing with the causes of border crossings. “The law requires that you, in coordination with USAID, submit to Congress a five-year strategy to address the drivers of illegal migration that advances economic prosperity, combats corruption, strengthens democratic governance, and improves citizen security in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras,” they write. Although the report is due this June, they urge Blinken to send the report to Congress by April 15, given the ongoing crisis at the border.
As migration to the U.S.-Mexico border increases during the summer, they also ask for details about the Biden administration’s broader strategy to deal with the increased numbers of people coming to the border and how it plans to deter potential migrants from making the dangerous journey.
“What was the reaction of the governments of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador when you canceled agreements they freely entered into and supported?” the lawmakers also ask.