US President Donald Trump has tightened the tone towards refugees and migrants just before the congressional elections. On Thursday he again announced a decree calling for a tightening of the asylum law. He also threatened people from Central America, who are currently on their way to the US, to violence. Should these „throw stones at our soldiers, our soldiers will fight back“.
He had told the military that the soldiers should treat stone throws as if they were carrying weapons – suggesting that fire could be opened on people, but did not say so explicitly. He remained vague about the details of his plans for asylum seekers. People who wanted to apply for asylum would have to do that at one of the border crossings. „Those who choose to break our laws and enter illegally will no longer be able to automatically enter our country with unsubstantiated claims,“ he said. Whether his plans are compatible with applicable law was initially unclear. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, anyone in the US can seek asylum, whether or not they came in at one of the border crossings. Around 7,000 on the way to the US border Currently, up to 7,000 people from Central America are in multiple groups en route through Mexico towards the US border.
A group of up to 5,000 people was on Thursday, however, about 1,300 kilometers as the crow flies from the United States. Whether they will reach the border until Election Day is questionable. People are fleeing drug and gang crime and the poor economic situation in the region Trump has been using the march for days since campaigning, recently calling it an „invasion“. He claimed that among the people were also people from the Middle East, and thus insinuated unfair motives for their march towards the United States. He did not provide any evidence for that. Newsman Axios journalist Johnathan Swan told Fox News that people in Trump’s environment are delighted with the topic.
That was a political gift for the President, to which they wanted to pay as much attention as possible. Maybe 15,000 military men at the border Trump recently also publicly called the military to send forces to the border. On Monday there were 5,200 soldiers to be stationed at the border, on Wednesday the president spoke of as many as 15,000 – and had apparently not voted this announcement with his ministry of defense. In the US, the congress will be elected on Tuesday – giving President Donald Trump the opportunity to tighten the tone towards refugees on the Mexican border.
He threatens now even by force. The soldiers are to support the border guard in logistical tasks. They must not arrest people. A spokesman for the Pentagon did not want to comment on details about the use of force on request.
The soldiers are „trained professionals“ who have the right to defend themselves, he said. Debate on asylum in Mexico According to official figures, almost 3,000 people from the Central American refugee movement have applied for asylum in Mexico.
A good 900 of them had their applications for the process, which can take up to three months, but withdrawn and asked for support for their voluntary return to their homeland, said the Mexico’s ministries of foreign affairs and foreign affairs in a joint statement on Thursday. According to the Mexican organization Puebla Sin Fronteras, asylum applications by people from Central America in Mexico are 80 percent rejected.
Trump said on Thursday that people obviously have no legitimate grounds to seek asylum in the United States for refusing to seek asylum from the Mexican government. „They do not seek protection, because if they did, they could get that from Mexico,“ he explained. „Mexico has agreed to take them in and encourages them to stay, but they do not want to stay, they want to come to the US. It’s no longer about security – and asylum is about security. “ Trump reiterated that people should be detained in tent cities, and announced that parents and children should stay there together.
Under current law, children must not be held for more than 20 days. Delicate intermediate options The sharp rhetoric takes place against the background of the congressional elections on Tuesday. Trump must fear that his Republicans lose the House of Representatives to the Democrats in the elections.
