The first wave of migrants from the Central American caravan began climbing fences after arriving at the U.S. border.
TIJUANA, Mexico — Hundreds of migrants in the caravan traveling from Central America have begun arriving in the northern Mexico border city of Tijuana, setting up a potential confrontation with the American authorities that has been brewing for weeks.Mexican federal authorities at the ports of entry in Tijuana are now allowing migrants from the Central American caravan into the U.S. so they can begin asylum requests.
Issued on: November
9, 2018
The United States expects the arrival
at the border between the United States and Mexico (southern border) of a
substantial number of aliens primarily from Central America who appear to have
no lawful basis for admission into our country. They are traveling
in large, organized groups through Mexico and reportedly intend to enter the
United States unlawfully or without proper documentation and to seek asylum,
despite the fact that, based on past experience, a significant majority
will not be eligible for or be granted that benefit. Many entered
Mexico unlawfully — some with violence — and have rejected opportunities to
apply for asylum and benefits in Mexico. The arrival of large numbers of
aliens will contribute to the overloading of our immigration and asylum system
and to the release of thousands of aliens into the interior of the United
States. The continuing and threatened mass migration of aliens with
no basis for admission into the United States through our southern border has
precipitated a crisis and undermines the integrity of our borders. I
therefore must take immediate action to protect the national interest, and
to maintain the effectiveness of the asylum system for legitimate asylum
seekers who demonstrate that they have fled persecution and warrant the many
special benefits associated with asylum.
In recent weeks, an average of
approximately 2,000 inadmissible aliens have entered each day at our southern
border.
In Fiscal Year 2018 overall, 124,511 aliens were found inadmissible at ports of entry on the southern border, while 396,579 aliens were apprehended entering the United States unlawfully between such ports of entry. The great number of aliens who cross unlawfully into the United States through the southern border consumes tremendous resources as the Government seeks to surveil, apprehend, screen, process, and detain them.
In Fiscal Year 2018 overall, 124,511 aliens were found inadmissible at ports of entry on the southern border, while 396,579 aliens were apprehended entering the United States unlawfully between such ports of entry. The great number of aliens who cross unlawfully into the United States through the southern border consumes tremendous resources as the Government seeks to surveil, apprehend, screen, process, and detain them.
Aliens who enter the United States
unlawfully or without proper documentation and are subject to expedited removal
may avoid being promptly removed by demonstrating, during an initial screening
process, a credible fear of persecution or torture.
Approximately 2
decades ago, most aliens deemed inadmissible at a port of entry or
apprehended after unlawfully entering the United States through the southern
border were single adults who were promptly returned to Mexico, and very
few asserted a fear of return. Since then, however, there has been a
massive increase in fear-of-persecution or torture claims by aliens who enter
the United States through the southern border. The vast majority of such
aliens are found to satisfy the credible-fear threshold, although only a
fraction of the claimants whose claims are adjudicated ultimately qualify for
asylum or other protection. Aliens found to have a credible fear are
often released into the interior of the United States, as a result of a
lack of detention space and a variety of other legal and practical
difficulties, pending adjudication of their claims in a full removal proceeding
in immigration court. The immigration adjudication process often takes
years to complete because of the growing volume of claims and because of the
need to expedite proceedings for detained aliens. During that time, many
released aliens fail to appear for hearings, do not comply with subsequent
orders of removal, or are difficult to locate and remove.
Members of family units pose particular
challenges. The Federal Government lacks sufficient facilities to house
families together. Virtually all members of family units who enter the
United States through the southern border, unlawfully or without proper
documentation, and that are found to have a credible fear of persecution,
are thus released into the United States. Against this backdrop of
near-assurance of release, the number of such aliens traveling as family units
who enter through the southern border and claim a credible fear of persecution
has greatly increased. And large numbers of family units decide
to make the dangerous and unlawful border crossing with their children.
The United States has a long and proud
history of offering protection to aliens who are fleeing persecution and
torture and who qualify under the standards articulated in our immigration
laws, including through our asylum system and the Refugee Admissions
Program. But our system is being overwhelmed by migration through our
southern border. Crossing the border to avoid detection and then, if
apprehended, claiming a fear of persecution is in too many instances an avenue
to near-automatic release into the interior of the United States. Once
released, such aliens are very difficult to remove. An additional influx
of large groups of aliens arriving at once through the southern border would
add tremendous strain to an already taxed system, especially if they avoid orderly
processing by unlawfully crossing the southern border.
The entry of large numbers of aliens
into the United States unlawfully between ports of entry on the southern border
is contrary to the national interest, and our law has long recognized that
aliens who seek to lawfully enter the United States must do so at ports of
entry. Unlawful entry puts lives of both law enforcement and aliens at
risk. By contrast, entry at ports of entry at the southern border allows
for orderly processing, which enables the efficient deployment of law
enforcement resources across our vast southern border.
Failing to take immediate action to
stem the mass migration the United States is currently experiencing and
anticipating would only encourage additional mass unlawful migration and
further overwhelming of the system.
Other presidents have taken strong
action to prevent mass migration. In Proclamation 4865 of September 29,
1981 (High Seas Interdiction of Illegal Aliens), in response to an influx of
Haitian nationals traveling to the United States by sea, President Reagan
suspended the entry of undocumented aliens from the high seas and ordered the
Coast Guard to intercept such aliens before they reached United States shores
and to return them to their point of origin. In Executive Order 12807 of
May 24, 1992 (Interdiction of Illegal Aliens), in response to
a dramatic increase in the unlawful mass migration of Haitian nationals to
the United States, President Bush ordered additional measures to interdict such
Haitian nationals and return them to their home country. The Supreme
Court upheld the legality of those measures in Sale v. Haitian Centers
Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155 (1993).
I am similarly acting to suspend, for a
limited period, the entry of certain aliens in order to address the problem of
large numbers of aliens traveling through Mexico to enter our country
unlawfully or without proper documentation. I am tailoring the suspension
to channel these aliens to ports of entry, so that, if they enter the United
States, they do so in an orderly and controlled manner instead of unlawfully.
Under this suspension, aliens entering through the southern border, even
those without proper documentation, may, consistent with this proclamation,
avail themselves of our asylum system, provided that they properly present
themselves for inspection at a port of entry. In anticipation of a large
group of aliens arriving in the coming weeks, I am directing the Secretary of
Homeland Security to commit additional resources to support our ports of entry
at the southern border to assist in processing those aliens — and all others
arriving at our ports of entry — as efficiently as possible.
But aliens who enter the United States
unlawfully through the southern border in contravention of this proclamation
will be ineligible to be granted asylum under the regulation promulgated by the
Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security that became effective
earlier today. Those aliens may, however, still seek other forms of
protection from persecution or torture. In addition, this limited
suspension will facilitate ongoing negotiations with Mexico and other countries
regarding appropriate cooperative arrangements to prevent unlawful mass
migration to the United States through the southern border. Thus, this
proclamation is also necessary to manage and conduct the foreign affairs of the
United States effectively.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, by
the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United
States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), respectively) hereby find
that, absent the measures set forth in this proclamation, the entry into the
United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would be
detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should
be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions. I
therefore hereby proclaim the following:
Section 1. Suspension
and Limitation on Entry. The entry of any alien into the United
States across the international boundary between the United States and Mexico
is hereby suspended and limited, subject to section 2 of this
proclamation. That suspension and limitation shall expire 90 days
after the date of this proclamation or the date on which an agreement permits
the United States to remove aliens to Mexico in compliance with the terms of
section 208(a)(2)(A) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(A)), whichever is earlier.
Sec. 2. Scope and
Implementation of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a) The
suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation
shall apply only to aliens who enter the United States after the date of this
proclamation.
(b) The suspension and limitation
on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply to any
alien who enters the United States at a port of entry and properly
presents for inspection, or to any lawful permanent resident of the United
States.
(c) Nothing in this proclamation
shall limit an alien entering the United States from being considered for
withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3))
or protection pursuant to the regulations promulgated under the authority of
the implementing legislation regarding the Convention Against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, or limit the statutory
processes afforded to unaccompanied alien children upon entering the United
States under section 279 of title 6, United States Code, and section 1232 of
title 8, United States Code.
(d) No later than 90 days after
the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General,
and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly submit to the President,
through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, a
recommendation on whether an extension or renewal of the suspension or
limitation on entry in section 1 of this proclamation is in the interests of
the United States.
Sec. 3. Interdiction.
The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consult
with the Government of Mexico regarding appropriate steps — consistent with
applicable law and the foreign policy, national security, and public-safety
interests of the United States — to address the approach of large groups of
aliens traveling through Mexico with the intent of entering the United States
unlawfully, including efforts to deter, dissuade, and return such aliens before
they physically enter United States territory through the southern border.
Sec. 4. Severability.
It is the policy of the United States to enforce this proclamation
to the maximum extent possible to advance the interests of the United
States. Accordingly:
(a) if any provision of this
proclamation, or the application of any provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and the
application of its other provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall
not be affected thereby; and
(b) if any provision of this
proclamation, or the application of any provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid because of the failure to follow certain
procedures, the relevant executive branch officials shall implement those
procedural requirements to conform with existing law and with any applicable
court orders.
Sec. 5. General
Provisions. (a) Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed
to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted
by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary,
administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This proclamation shall be
implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability
of appropriations.
(c) This proclamation is not
intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the
United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand this
ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.
ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.
DONALD J. TRUMP
