WASHINGTON — Most migrants who travel by land to enter the United States from the Mexican border will be denied asylum protections according to plans the Trump administration announced Monday. The new rule was expected to be immediately challenged in court. Under the plan, migrants who failed to apply for asylum in the first country they passed through on their way to the southwest border of the United States would not be protected. It would significantly impact a majority of asylum-seeking Central American families who are fleeing persecution and poverty who have tried to enter the United States at its southwest border in record-high numbers this year. The administration has for weeks been pushing Guatemala’s government to sign a “safe third country” agreement, which would require Hondurans and Salvadorans to apply for asylum in Guatemala before they can qualify for protections in the United States.

Source: International New York Times July 15, 2019 15:56 UTC