Obama administration aids asylum applicants

The Obama administration is ramping up its efforts to expand the number of refugees it takes in from strife-torn Central American countries known as the Northern Triangle.

El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala remain mired in a vicious cycle of gang violence, prompting more and more people to flee their respective countries.

Nearly 80,000 people - many of them children and families - have been caught trying to cross the US-Mexican border since last October.

The plan calls for Costa Rica to host up to 200 asylum seekers at a time, while their applications are processed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Upon approval the applicants would be allowed to resettle in the US.

The move comes at a time when immigrants are a central issue in the US presidential campaign, with Republican candidate Donald Trump vowing to build a wall across the US-Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants.

The program is also allowing some people to apply for refugee status in their own country, according to White House Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Amy Pope. But the numbers so far admitted are far short of Washington's original plans, which called for multiple processing centers across the region.

Struggle for temporary hosts

But US negotiators have struggled to convince countries to host such a center because of concerns that long processing times would create a backlog of refugees with nowhere to go, according to a DHS official.

Nearly 8,000 Cubans seeking to migrate to the US earlier this year became stuck in Costa Rica when Nicaragua closed its border to Cubans.

But the DHS is pushing ahead with its plans, according to Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

"We're expanding significantly the foundation of the refugee program," Mayorkas said. "These programs most often take time to build traction, credibility in the countries at issue."

The US plan calls for expanding its Central American Minors program that allows children under 21 with at least one parent living in the United States to apply for refugee status. The new guidelines expand those eligible to apply, including siblings, care givers or another parent of a qualifying child.

So far only 267 minors have entered the US since the program was launched in December 2014. But Mayorkas told journalists that 2,880 children have been approved and are awaiting resettlement in the US. Another 9,500 applications are pending.

The original plan called for the US to take in as many as 9,000 refugees from the beleaguered Central American countries.

bik/kms (Reuters, AP)