The United States attributes to Mexico and Central America a sharp drop in arrests at the border

By Alexandra Alper and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Monday it helped Mexico and Central American countries cut US border arrests by nearly 60 percent from the record set earlier this year. policy.

With President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policy becoming an issue for his re-election campaign in 2020, Mark Morgan, Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said that 64,000 people have been arrested or expelled. on the southwestern border in August. It was down 22% from July and 56% from a high May rating.

Nevertheless, the total was the highest of all August for more than a decade, with Central American migrants heading north in record numbers, many seeking asylum in poor countries where the murder rate is among the highest in the world.

A decade ago, migrants were mainly Mexican. But in recent years, they have been overtaken by central Americans, mainly from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

The Trump administration lobbied all these countries to do more to prevent people from reaching the US border, threatening Mexico to pay tariffs if it did not comply.

The United States has persuaded Guatemala to become a safe third country, which would accept asylum seekers, although the agreement has not yet been ratified by the Guatemalan government, with the aim of reducing the pressure on the United States. Washington is working with Honduras on a similar deal.

The United States has failed to convince Mexico to do the same. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Monday reiterated Mexico's rejection of the statute, after Morgan said negotiations were under way for a "cooperation agreement" with Mexico to help stem the flow of immigrants.

Meanwhile, Mexico has agreed to keep asylum seekers from Central America just south of the US border pending the appointment of their US court and has deployed National Guard officers to arrest them.

Ebrard is scheduled to meet with US officials on Tuesday to discuss Mexico's efforts. He said last week that Mexico did not expect the United States to threaten tariffs for the time being.

"Right now, Mexico is doing a great job for us and, frankly, we are very grateful for that, but we have also changed the regulations, the rules very quickly," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Earlier on Monday, a US judge accused Trump of a setback, saying that an injunction against a restrictive rule applicable to asylum seekers should apply across the country.

The rule, released on July 15, requires most immigrants seeking asylum in the United States to do so first in a third country they have crossed.

US District Judge Jon Tigar, based in San Francisco, had already issued a national injunction blocking the rule. But the US Circuit's 9th Circuit Court of Appeal limited it to border states within its jurisdiction – California and Arizona – and referred the matter to Tigar.

On Monday, Tigar decided it should apply to the entire border, pending a trial on the underlying legality of the Trump administration's rule.

In a statement released Monday night, the White House said the ruling "is a gift for smugglers and traffickers of human beings," adding that the government hoped the Supreme Court would overturn the injunction in its entirety.

Morgan criticized Tigar for his decision and what he called "unprecedented judicial activism". He lamented that with each new administrative policy aimed at "resolving this crisis, we end up being enjoined. It's very, very frustrating, but we will continue. '

Opponents of Trump's immigration policy praised the judge's decision, saying that previously, asylum seekers could be arbitrarily banned, depending on where they were crossing the border. border.

"Unfortunately, although this decision removes a major hurdle, there are still far too many obstacles," said Melissa Crow, a lawyer at the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a statement.

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