The US Department of Homeland Security has announced a policy, effective immediately, that will return asylum seekers to Mexico while their claims are processed in the United States.<\/p>\n
Arina News Agency-<\/em> <\/strong>This raises serious concerns about whether asylum-seeking adults and families will be obstructed in their ability to pursue their asylum claims, have decisions delayed to the point of having their claims for protection unanswered, and exposed to harm in Mexico while their claims are pending.<\/p>\n Prior to the announcement of the so-called \u201cMigration Protection Protocols\u201d policy, the US government\u2019s decision to \u201cmeter\u201d the claims of asylum seekers was already causing them to wait long periods in Mexico. The new policy will inevitably add to long wait times for people fleeing violence and harm in Central America in order to seek asylum in the US, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n According to the Mexican government, the country is currently facing an \u201cemergency of violence and insecurity.\u201d The national security plan of President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador states in its opening sentence: \u201cThe violence, killings, and criminality in our country have reached historic levels and we are among the most unsafe countries in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The number of homicides in Mexico in 2017 was the highest since the country began keeping record in 1997, and is projected to be even higher in 2018. Several northern states are among the most violent in the country, including Baja California, where Tijuana is located, which has the second highest number of homicides.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US is sending asylum seekers back to a country whose own government says it is among the most unsafe in the world,\u201d said Daniel Wilkinson, Americas managing director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cIt\u2019s totally unrealistic to think that a government that is struggling to contain what it calls an \u2018emergency of violence and insecurity\u2019 can be expected to keep Central American asylum seekers safe for months and years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The US Department of Homeland Security has announced a policy, effective immediately, that will return asylum seekers to Mexico while their claims are processed in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"0"},"categories":[306],"tags":[194,371,372],"class_list":["post-1485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-human-rights","tag-mexico","tag-refugees"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":false,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n