A week ago, the Trump administration published a new rule in the Federal Register which essentially sought to end asylum for all Central American migrants.
As with any rule, the pronouncement admitted of exceptions, but the message was clear.
“US law allows refugees to request asylum when they arrive at the US regardless of how they did so, but there is an exception for those who have come through a country considered to be ‘safe’”, AP wrote.
The issue, though, is that the Immigration and Nationality Act doesn’t really specify what “safe” means, but rather points to existing “bilateral or multilateral agreement(s)”. As AP went on to point out, “the US has such an agreement only with Canada” and while the recent agreement with Mexico called for Central American countries to consider a regional accord on the issue, nothing has yet been decided.
Read more: Trump Moves To End Asylum For All Central Americans
That same day, a meeting between Trump and Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales aimed at hashing out the issue was canceled pending court proceedings.
Fast forward to Tuesday and Trump lost his patience with the country.
“Guatemala, which has been forming Caravans and sending large numbers of people, some with criminal records, to the United States, has decided to break the deal they had with us on signing a necessary Safe Third Agreement. We were ready to go”, he tweeted, before threatening the country as follows:
Now we are looking at the ‘BAN’, Tariffs, Remittance Fees, or all of the above. Guatemala has not been good. Big U.S. taxpayer dollars going to them was cut off by me 9 months ago.
In June, the administration made good on a threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the country, along with El Salvador and Honduras.
Hours later, during a characteristically controversial speech to Turning Point USA, the president lambasted Guatemala and threatened to ban entry.
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It wasn’t immediately clear what Trump meant by “BAN” on Tuesday, but it sounds like he’s alluding to the infamous “Muslim ban”.
The president’s comments precipitated the worst selloff in Guatemala’s 2022 dollar bonds in a year. The notes fell 0.4%, driving yields up more than 10bps.
Insult was thus added to injury.
