Episode three: Trump's war on Asylum
In this episode
Jonathan Blitzer
The New Yorker
Jonathan Blitzer is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He won a 2017 National Award for Education Reporting and has twice been a finalist–in 2016 and 2018–for the Livingston Award.
Francisco Chavez
Guatemalan Asylum Seeker
Gaspar Cobo
Guatemalan Asylum Seeker
Credits
Alex Aleinikoff
Co-Host
Deb Amos
Co-Host
Sahil Ansari
Producer and Engineer
Erin Johnson
Production Assistant
Cassidy Giordano
Production Assistant
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Jonathan Blitzer, Staff Writer with The New Yorker, discusses Trump policies at the southwest border, which have been virtually stopped the flow of asylum-seekers from Central America. Two Guatemalan asylum-seekers, who have been waiting on the Mexican side of the border for months, describe what they have endured in seeking safety in the US.
Materials Of interest
Relevant Stories by Jonathan Blitzer in The New Yorker
- On Corona: “The Trump Administration’s Deportation Policy is Spreading the Coronavirus”
- On forced deportations: “Does Asylum Have a Future At The Southern Border”
- On Trump Administration and court decisions: “Are the Courts Beginning to Move in Favor of Trump’s Immigration Policies?”
- Discussion MPP “How the U.S. Asylum System if Keeping Migrants at Risk in Mexico”
- On policies regarding refugee resettlement numbers: “How the White House is Trying – and Failing – to Keep States From Resettling Refugees”
- On policies hurting migrant children “The Trump Administration’s Sustained Attack on The Rights on Immigrant Children”
- On Safe Third Country “How Trump’s Safe-Third-Country Agreement with Guatemala Fell Apart”
- Send back to Central America: “Trump is Poised to Sign a Radical Agreement to Send Future Asylum Seekers to Guatemala”
- On Tariff Threats: “How Trump’s Tariff Threat Could Outsource the Asylum Crisis to Mexico”
- On Family Separation: “The Uncounted Families Torn Apart at The border by the Trump Administration”
On Mexico
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
- “López Obrador’s diplomacy of subservience at the White House” – The Washington Post
- On paying for the wall: “About the border wall, Mr. Presidents … who’s paying?” – The Washington Post
- “López Obrador Goes to Washington to Play Nice with Trump” – Foreign Policy
- “Mexico’s President AMLP under fire over migration clampdown” – Al Jazeera
- “Mexican Asylum Seekers Could Now Be Deported to Guatemala” – The New York Times
- “Detentions of Child Migrants at the U.S. Border Surges to Record Levels” – The New York Times
Mexico’s position under pressure from US:
- “Mexico Says It Has Cut the Number of Migrants Heading to U.S.” – The New York Times
- “Mexico Is Doing Trump’s Dirty Work. Enough.” – The New York Times
A different type of wall:
- “Trump: ‘I’m Using Mexico’” – The New York Times
- “Mexico is the wall: president under fire over migration clampdown” – Reuters
- “Mexico has become Trump’s wall: how AMLO became an immigration enforcer” – the Guardian
Tariff Threats:
- “Trump announces migration deal with Mexico averting threatened tariffs” – The Washington Post
- “Trump Calls Off Plan to Impose Tariffs on Mexico” – The New York Times
Unaccompanied Minor at the border:
- The New York Times: “10 Years Old, Tearful and Confused After a Sudden Deportation”
- The Baltimore Sun: “More than 900 children have been expelled under a pandemic border policy”
Immigration Numbers
On Numbers and patterns of arrivals in and preceding 2016 https://www.wola.org/analysis/migration-patterns-2016-look-numbers/
Recent numbers with coronavirus: “Arrests along Mexico border jumped 40% last month, despite Trump administration’s immigration crackdown”
“Undocumented Migrants from the Northern Triangle of Central America” 25 October 2017 – International Crisis Group
Border Policies
Migrant Protection Protocols:
- Fact sheet and info on Remain in Mexico – HRW “Q&A: Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” Program”
- MPP + Covid-19: “Covid-19 and the Remain in Mexico / “Migrant Protection Protocols” Policy”
- 2020 reporting on continuation of sending migrants back to Mexico “The Supreme Court Just Allowed Trump to Continue Sending Migrants Back to Mexico”
- MPP from DHS https://www.dhs.gov/news/2019/01/24/migrant-protection-protocols
Fact sheet on application for protection, border processes, and various protocols and policies: “Policies Affecting Asylum Seekers at the Border” – American Immigration Council
Zero Tolerance:
- “How The Trump Administration’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy Changed the Immigration Debate” – NPR
- “‘Zero Tolerance’ Immigration Policy Surprise Agencies, Report Finds” – The New York Times
Family Separation:
- Timeline of Family Separation: “Family Separation Under the Trump Administration – A Timeline”
- “The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border” – The Washington Post
- “How Trump Came to Enforce a Practice of Separating Migrant Families”