The U.S. government just made it easier for some Central Americans fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries to legally come here as refugees. On Tuesday, the White House announced an expansion of an existing refugee program to allow more people from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to legally enter the United States.
Children under the age of 21 who have at least one parent legally in the U.S. are allowed to apply for refugee status under the Central American Minors (CAM) program. But CAM has had shortcomings from the start, including the fact that it’s a year-long application process, which is far too long for people who are living in constant fear of gang violence.
Now, the expanded program will allow additional categories of people to qualify — including older siblings, biological parents who accompany their child to the United States, and caregivers related to the parent who are living legally in the United States.
Tuesday’s announcement hints that the United States knows it needs to do more for desperate people fleeing Central America as the region becomes increasingly violent.
“Our current efforts to date have been insufficient to address the number of people who may have legitimate refugee claims, and there are insufficient pathways for those people to present their claims for adjudication,” Amy Pope, Deputy Homeland Security Advisor at the National Security Council, said in a press call on Tuesday.
Under new guidelines, the White House will have an agreement with Costa Rica, known as the Protection Transfer Arrangement, to serve as a temporary host for upwards of 200 Central Americans in imminent danger and in need of a place to stay after they have been screened in their countries. The administration also said it will also work with the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees and the International Organization for Migration to process people who are not in immediate danger within their home countries.
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“The goal is for individuals who have legitimate humanitarian claims not to take the perilous journey and to really accept our outstretched arm of relief and proceed with those claims in a safe and orderly way,” Deputy Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas said on Tuesday’s call.
Some immigration experts were cautiously hopeful about the changes, saying they represent a “minor step forward” to ensure the safety of Central American children and families. “More than anything, this announcement is a recognition of what we’ve known for quite a while: That conditions in the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala are some of the most dangerous in the world, and that many of the children and families fleeing for safety should qualify as refugees,” Philip Wolgin, managing director of the immigration team at the Center for American Progress, told ThinkProgress. (Disclosure: ThinkProgress is an editorially independent project of the Center for American Progress.)
Murders in El Salvador fell by half in June thanks to a gang truce, but it still has the grim distinction of being one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
“Ultimately this regional refugee processing system is a big part of the solution to the Central American refugee situation,” Wolgin said. “But we must also ensure that all those who arrive at our borders seeking refuge are afforded a full and fair shot at protection. And ultimately the most durable solutions will come from tackling the root causes of violence and structural poverty that are pushing these children and families out in the first place.”
Since late 2013, the Obama administration has focused on a method of “aggressive deterrence” in part by making life so miserable inside immigration detention centers that future border crossers would feel deterred from leaving their countries. But despite a dip in the number of border crossers from Central America in 2015, there has since been a new resurgence of children showing up at the southern U.S. border this year. That has led to expedited court hearings and a series of immigration raids on people who have failed their court cases or have been given final orders of deportation.