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1 1 (January 30, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govbiyw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Resarh Servi kM- Safe Third Country Agreements with Northern Triangle Countries: Background and Legal Issues January 30, 2020 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently began implementing an agreement with the government of Guatemala that allows DHS to transfer some asylum seekers to that country instead of evaluating their claims for protection in the United States. According to a report, DHS had transferred at least 230 Honduran and Salvadoran asylum seekers to Guatemala under the agreement as of late January 2020. Reports suggest that DHS has contemplated plans to apply the agreement to Mexican asylum seekers as well, but thus far it appears that only nationals of Honduras and El Salvador have been transferred to Guatemala under it. The agreement does not apply to Guatemalan nationals, unaccompanied alien children, and some other categories of aliens. Agreements of this nature are typically known as safe third country agreements (STCAs), from the heading of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provision that authorizes them. DHS and the government of Guatemala have opted to call their agreement an Asylum Cooperative Agreement, although DHS acknowledges that such agreements are alternatively described as safe third courity agreements. DHS has also signed STCAs with the governments of Honduras and El Salvador. Those agreements, unlike the Guatemala agreement, have yet to be implemented, but DHS has said that it hopes to implement the Honduras agreement within the coming weeks. At least one lawsuit filed in federal court challenges the legality of the STCAs and their implementing regulations and ultimately seeks an injunction blocking their implementation. The STCAs are the latest in a series of Trump Administration policies that have changed the processing of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Earlier policies currently in effect include metering, the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP, otherwise known as the remain in Mexico policy), and the July 16, 2019 interim final rule (IFR) rendering aliens ineligible for asylum if they transit through third countries to reach the southern border. A CRS infographic illustrates how these policies fit together with the STCAs. At least two key features distinguish the STCAs from the earlier policies. First, under the Guatemala agreement (the only STCA currently in effect), U.S. immigration officials will not consider an alien's claim for asylum or related protections; instead, so long as no exceptions or limitations apply, officials will send the alien to pursue relief in Guatemala. The earlier policies, in contrast, require U.S. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10402 CRS Lega Sidebar Prepaed for Membeivs and Cornm ittees o4 Cor~qress ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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