{"id":26873,"date":"2019-08-21T13:23:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T18:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=26873"},"modified":"2019-08-21T13:23:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T18:23:32","slug":"u-s-seeks-deal-send-asylum-seekers-africa-asia-panama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/u-s-seeks-deal-send-asylum-seekers-africa-asia-panama\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. seeks deal to send asylum seekers from Africa and Asia to Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Trump administration is trying to reach a deal with the Panama government that would allow the United States to send asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and elsewhere to Panamanian territory, if those travelers passed through the country en route to U.S. soil.<\/p>\n

The \u201csafe third country\u201d accord would primarily apply to the relatively small but growing numbers of \u201cextracontinental\u201d asylum seekers who arrive in South America before heading north into Panama through wild jungles and muddy rivers.<\/p>\n

Acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan will travel to Panama City on Wednesday to meet with the country\u2019s newly elected president, Laurentino Cortizo, to \u201cdiscuss regional cooperation to confront irregular migration,\u201d the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The visit is part of the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to secure \u201csafe third country\u201d agreements across the hemisphere that will enable U.S. authorities to reject asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border and send them to other countries willing to offer refuge.<\/p>\n

McAleenan reached an accord last month with the Guatemalan government that, if implemented, would allow the United States to ship Honduran and Salvadoran asylum seekers there. The acting secretary said he is seeking similar deals<\/a> in Panama, Brazil and El Salvador, part of what he described as a multilateral effort to align asylum policies across the region among \u201csource, transit and destination countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The goal, according to McAlee\u00adnan, is for those fleeing persecution to find safety in the closest possible place to their home countries, instead of hiring smugglers for the long and dangerous journey to the United States.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning before departing for Panama, McAleenan said the purpose of his trip was part of a \u201cbroader agenda,\u201d not to negotiate a specific agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to talk about our broad security relationship, and building on a strong foundation for partnership and information-sharing with Panama,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will include movement of drugs through the region, human smugglers and traffickers, and a dialogue about irregular migration flows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics of the effort say the Trump administration is turning its back on the world\u2019s most vulnerable people and long-standing American values of providing a safe harbor, with little concern for security conditions in the other nations where the asylum seekers would go.<\/p>\n

[Trump officials signed a major migration deal with Guatemala. Now they\u2019re trying to sell it to Guatemalans.<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

Though arrests along the U.S. southern border have dipped in recent months, migration levels remain near their highest point in more than a decade. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security say large numbers of economic migrants are taking advantage of U.S. humanitarian programs to file bogus asylum claims, hoping to gain easy entry to the United States. Asylum filings have surged fivefold since 2014, adding to a backlog of nearly 1 million cases in U.S. immigration courts.<\/p>\n

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Panama, the narrow isthmus linking the North and South American landmasses, is the hemisphere\u2019s natural transit point \u2014 both for cargo ships using its interoceanic canal and for U.S.-bound migrants coming from South America.<\/p>\n

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