The Trump administration said Wednesday it had a deal with a third Central American country that would effectively prevent asylum-seekers traveling through the region from entering the United States.
The agreement would pave the way to send asylum-seekers to Honduras, one of the world's most violent countries, like its neighbors. A similar pact was signed with El Salvador last week; a more comprehensive agreement was previously signed with Guatemala .
The Honduras agreement, to be signed this week, has not been released and many details remain unclear, including when it would take effect. A senior Homeland Security Department official described broad outlines on a conference call with reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity, according to briefing ground rules
The deal would complete a central component of Trump's strategy to deter asylum-seekers from entering the U.S. through Mexico . The Supreme Court this month cleared the way for the administration to deny asylum to anyone who traveled through another country to reach the border.
The asylum ban has taken effect in tandem with U.S. efforts to help impoverished, dangerous and corrupt Central American countries absorb large numbers of people seeking refuge there. The State Department acknowledged the poor conditions in Honduras in a 2018 human rights report.
"Organized criminal elements, including local and transnational gangs and narcotics traffickers, were significant perpetrators of violent crimes and committed acts of homicide, extortion, kidnapping, torture, human trafficking, intimidation, and other threats and violence directed against human rights defenders, judicial authorities, lawyers, the business community, journalists, bloggers, women, and members of vulnerable populations," the report said.
It said there were reports "arbitrary and unlawful killings," complaints of torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions and "harsh and life-threatening prison conditions."
In a nod to the absence of a robust network to absorb refugees, Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, on Monday announced $47 million in aid for Guatemala to build its asylum system. It remains unclear what assistance El Salvador and Honduras will receive similar assistance.
Most families arrested or stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border are from the area known as the Northern Triangle: Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador. While they would not be returned to their home countries, they would be sent to other countries they passed through. For example, Hondurans must travel through Guatemala to reach the U.S. by land.
The agreement would likely have its biggest direct impact on people of other nationalities, including many from Cuba and Africa, who fly to countries south of the Northern Triangle and travel by bus to the United States, most commonly through Honduras and Guatemala.
In another effort to deter asylum-seekers, the Trump administration has made more than 40,000 people, largely Central Americans, wait in Mexico and cross the border for hearings in U.S. immigration court.
It is unclear what steps are needed for the Honduran government to fully embrace the arrangement, including any legislative or judicial hurdles.
Trump met Wednesday with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The meeting was not open to reporters.
Hernández has been named by U.S. prosecutors as a co-conspirator in his brother's drug-trafficking case and protesters have called for him to step down. Hernández has said the allegations come from drug traffickers seeking revenge against him, but U.S. prosecutors promise say they will present evidence showing that Hernández harnessed his brother's drug-trafficking connections to propel his own political fortunes. A trial is scheduled for October