If press reports are true that President Trump plans a new prohibition on people seeking asylum who transit through “third countries,” then we will see more chaos and failure. The following is a statement from Pili Tobar, Deputy Director of America’s Voice:
If press reports are accurate, this decision will cause a chain reaction – Central Americans who are fleeing for their lives being forced back into the burning house they are escaping. The United States has a clear process for evaluating asylum-seekers like those reaching our southern border, and this decision will only further the regional chaos by forcing countries surrounding the Northern Triangle to take in or turn-away refugees who have nowhere else to go. A rational approach, which we have learned is not the approach taken by this President, is to treat this like the regional refugee crisis that it is and bolster our asylum and refugee process instead of slamming the door shut with a childish hope that migrants will not come or conditions causing them to flee will get better on their own.
Like previous ‘dramatic’ announcements, this is poorly thought out and hastily slapped together to distract from the President’s latest political crisis related to Russian election interference, the Mueller investigation and the White House/DOJ cover-up. Like the Muslim ban, family separation, and other ‘bold’ Trump moves, we’re going to see chaos added to the existing chaos Trump’s policies have already created. The courts are likely to enjoin the President’s unilateral policy change, but ultimately, we need a new President with a new strategy that actually addresses reality and solves problems, not another stunt designed to change the headlines the current President doesn’t like.
