32M Central Americans Would Have Right to Migrate to U.S. Under Asylum Plan

Weakened asylum rules being pushed by Democrats and the Republican establishment would allow the entire populations of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador the right to migrate to the United States.

House Republicans and Democrats pushed forward two amendments that would block Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ tightened asylum rules that raise the standards of so-called “credible fear” in the asylum process.

The rules block foreign nationals from seeking asylum by claiming they are fleeing gang violence and domestic abuse. Experts say those foreign nationals, primarily arriving in the U.S. illegally from Central America, should seek asylum in the first safe country, which is more often not the U.S.

Sessions’ memo also reasserts that unemployment, gang violence, domestic abuse, and lack of economic opportunity are not grounds for asylum in the U.S.

House Republicans and Democrats, though, want to reverse these cleaned up asylum rules by opening asylum to all foreign nationals who allege domestic violence and gang violence.

The opening of asylum in the U.S. to foreign nationals alleging that they are fleeing gang violence would readily allow the entire populations of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador the right to migrate to America. This translates to at least 32 million Central Americans from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador having the right to come to the U.S. to seek asylum.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) — Trump’s closest ally on immigration in the U.S. Senate — slammed the GOP-majority House Appropriations Committee for trying to “undermine” the asylum reforms that Sessions has made.

As Breitbart News has noted, asylum fraud from Central America is vast. Members of a most recent caravan from Central America made numerous ineligible asylum claims to enter the U.S., including family unification, fear of crime, instability, and political unrest.

Though Central Americans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border have routinely sought to seek asylum in the U.S. by claiming they are fleeing gang violence, research has shown that these alleged asylum seekers are economic migrants.

A 2016 study by the International Organization for Migration found that more than 90 percent of Guatemalans migrate to the U.S. for economic reasons. Less than 0.3 percent of Guatemalans migrate to the U.S. to escape violence and only 0.2 percent migrate to flee gangs.

Likewise, a study conducted last year by the Reflection, Research, and Communication Team revealed that nearly 83 of Hondurans migrated to the U.S. for economic reasons. Only 11 percent of Hondurans migrated to the U.S. because of violence in their native country.

A similar study conducted in 2015 found a similar trend. Among Hondurans, 77 percent said they migrated to the U.S. for economic reasons while only 17 percent said they migrated due to violence.

Currently, the U.S. admits more than 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants every year. In 2016, the legal and illegal immigrant population reached a record high of 44 million. By 2023, the legal and illegal immigrant population is expected to make up nearly 15 percent of the entire U.S. population if current immigration levels continue.