Tag: Central Americans

Commentary: The Demographics of Polarization

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Women around the world are having fewer than two children. But while population decline is well underway in most nations, there are a handful of nations that are still experiencing a population explosion. The implications of this challenge the foundations of cultural and national independence, most particularly in nations whose populations have stopped reproducing. The nations still experiencing rapid population growth have cultural traditions that stand in stark contrast to the nations with stable and declining populations. These profound demographic and cultural differences, when combined with a massive and ongoing transfer of people from high birth-rate nations into low birth-rate nations, introduces the potential for polarization on an almost unimaginable scale.

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Commentary: Address the Real Cause of Central American Migration

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As we close into just a little over a year away from the 2020 elections, there is no clearer difference between Democrats and Donald Trump when it comes to law and order than illegal immigration. Take, for example, the Democrats’ outrage at recent “raids” by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service. If you were just listening to Democrats’ rhetoric, you would have thought masked storm troopers were breaking into the homes of American citizens in the dead of night, ripping families apart, sending people away never to be seen again.

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US, Guatemala Close to Deal to Block Central American Asylum-Seekers

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  The Trump administration hopes within days to conclude a deal with Guatemala that would block Central Americans from seeking asylum in the U.S. VOA has obtained an unsigned copy of a seven-page draft White House agreement which would establish a “safe third country” protocol between the U.S. and Guatemala. The draft is set to be presented to the government in Guatemala City this week. Under the terms of the agreement, migrants fleeing persecution in El Salvador and Honduras would be required to seek asylum in Guatemala, a gateway to Mexico and the United States. With few exceptions, those who continue north to the U.S. without testing their chances in Guatemala would be sent back to Guatemala by U.S. immigration authorities. Mexico has resisted entering a “safe third country” agreement as part of its recent deal with the Trump administration to avoid punishing tariffs. But talks of a regional pact emerged shortly after President Donald Trump revealed he had agreed to terms with Mexico to curb migration levels through increased Mexican enforcement. In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered the highest monthly total of southwest border apprehensions in 13 years, setting up Trump’s most recent showdown with his…

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Guatemalan Migrant Recruiter: It’s ‘Never Been Easier’ to Get Illegals Into the US

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by Jason Hopkins   Word is spreading among Central Americans that, if one reaches the U.S.-Mexico border with a child and claims asylum, it’s fairly easy to evade deportation. “It’s never been easier for us to get families in,” Germán, a client recruiter for human smugglers, said in an interview with The Guardian. Germán works in Huehuetenango, a Guatemalan district that has experienced the highest rate of migration in the country. “People want to leave, and we help them,” said Germán, 34. “And I happen to make money in the process.” Migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have reached their highest in over a decade, causing what the Trump administration has dubbed an “emergency crisis.” Unlike years prior, the vast majority of the foreign nationals currently trying to get into the country hail from Central America and belong to family units. Originally intended to manage mostly adult, Mexican men traveling alone, the U.S. immigration system has buckled under the weight of Central American families and unaccompanied alien children arriving at the border — many of them actively seeking out border agents and immediately requesting asylum. A major motivation for migrants to make the dangerous trek across Mexico has been the…

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Illegal Border Crossings are Down Because Migrants are Applying for Asylum Instead

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by Jason Hopkins   While the number of apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have gone down, applications for asylum are reaching all-time highs. Around 304,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended at the southwest border during the 2017 fiscal year, a dramatic plunge from the 1.6 million apprehensions recorded in 2000. At the same time, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recored 78,564 requests for asylum in 2017, a major increase from the 13,880 requests made in 2012. These numbers have only increased. During this fiscal year, the USCIS recorded a record-setting 99,035 asylum requests — 62,609 of which included Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans. “We’ve never seen this many people coming to the border to seek asylum,” Faye Hipsman, a former analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, told The Wall Street Journal. The rise in asylum applications come at a time when the White House is working to reform the process. “My administration is finalizing a plan to end the rampant abuse of our asylum system to halt the dangerous influx and to establish control over America’s sovereign borders,” President Donald Trump announced in early November, around the same time a caravan of Central Americans was heading toward the U.S. border.…

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