U.S. downplays dangers in Latin America in new guidance for asylum judges and officers
Washington — The U.S. State Department has drafted new internal country assessments that downplay the dangers in Latin America and argue that conditions in some of those countries are no more dangerous than in certain American cities, according to internal documents reviewed by CNN in an exclusive report published Wednesday.
The documents, which had not been previously reported, focus on Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Instead of highlighting the human rights problems, kidnappings and extortion that usually appear in the State Department's official assessments, they compare the violent-crime rates of those countries favorably with cities such as Baltimore, Houston and Memphis. In Mexico and El Salvador, they claim that many areas have violent-crime rates "at least an order of magnitude lower" than those of major U.S. cities.
The assessments are part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump's administration to reshape how asylum officers evaluate migrants' claims and limit who qualifies to remain in the United States, CNN reported. The documents were distributed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that processes immigration benefits.
The key point is that asylum seekers must demonstrate a "well-founded fear" of persecution to avoid returning to their country. By lowering the perceived threat in those countries, the new guidance directly affects decisions, including whether migrants can safely relocate within their own country instead of remaining in the United States, the report noted.
"Under other administrations there has been an oversimplification of the real dangers in these countries, but this seems to be going too far in the opposite direction," Andrew Selee, president of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, told CNN. Selee also warned that the documents minimize collusion between police and organized crime groups: "people often face violence but do not have reliable institutions that can protect them."
Asylum rejections are already high: in June, 94% of asylum cases were denied, according to the TRAC center at Syracuse University, compared with about 50% two years ago. The State Department's annual human rights report, which officers typically use as a reference and which is normally published in March or April, has been delayed this year, so the new assessments provide the most recent information for decisions.
Photo: DominicanosHoy
Source: CNN en Español