Trump Immigration Rules Set Asylum Seekers From Central America At Highest Risk

This week, President Trump issued fresh rules to enforce the US' immigration laws more aggressively. The new rules are aimed at discouraging asylum seekers, expanding the definition of 'criminal aliens' and speeding up deportations. With these measures, Trump effectively breaks with Barack Obama and George W. Bush's attempts to balance border protection with other practical and humanitarian concerns. It costs around $266 per day to hold a migrant in detention, for example. And a considerable number of migrants headed to the US are seeking refuge from extreme violence and dire poverty - 70% of those coming from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala claimed credible fear of prosecution or torture in their home countries in the 2016 fiscal year.

In her piece for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Maureen Meyer outlines some of the problems Trump's orders might cause – and how they might affect Central Americans more acutely. Besides due process concerns about expedited removal proceedings, these rules might instill a climate of fear among immigrant communities, and will hit women and children from Central America more acutely. They will also raise economic and social pressures on Mexican border towns – to get a glimpse of what northern Mexico's migrant enclaves are facing, feel free to also read The Guardian's Rory Carroll on Tijuana as the US' waiting room.