Author: Joel Rose / Source: NPR.org
Democrats and immigrant rights groups were quick to oppose President Trump’s proposal to end the government shutdown over the weekend because it includes $5.7 billion for an expanded border wall.
Now that they’ve seen the full language of the bill, they’ve found even more reasons not to like it.
The proposed bill includes some big changes to U.S. immigration policy that were not included in the president’s public announcement — including a provision that would sharply limit asylum applications for children from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
“It’s a trojan horse filled with many extreme immigration proposals,” said Kerri Talbot of the Immigration Hub, an immigrants’ rights organization, during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “The bill includes the most extreme proposals on asylum I think that I’ve ever seen,” Talbot said.
When he announced his proposal on Saturday, President Trump said it includes “critical measures to protect migrant children from exploitation and abuse,” including a new system that would allow Central America minors to apply for asylum in their home countries.
But the president did not mention that the proposal would in fact require migrant children to apply from their home countries, and prevent them from applying in person at the border. In addition, only migrant children with a “qualified” parent in the U.S. would be permitted to apply for asylum — a sharp break from current asylum policy.
“This historic change…
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