Washington, D.C. — Today, Senate Democrats introduced the Secure the Northern Triangle Act, a bill designed to provide a coordinated plan to effectively manage the continuing humanitarian crisis in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—collectively known as “The Northern Triangle of Central America”—and protect asylum seekers who come from the region. In response, Tom Jawetz, Vice President of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
CAP applauds Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and his fellow senators on the introduction of this bill, which contains sensible and actionable short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations to deal with the children and families seeking refuge from violence and poverty in their countries of origin—an issue that CAP most recently addressed in a two-part report. The measures promoted by this bill seek to protect those asylum seekers who reach our borders and to expand protection elsewhere in the Northern Triangle region, while recognizing that true solutions must deal with this issue by targeting the root causes of violence and structural poverty and building effective coalitions across key players in the Northern Triangle—governments, civil society, and the private sector. This bill recognizes that many of these women and children are refugees and offers a smart and effective alternative to enforcement-only policies that focus on deterring people from seeking protection.
For more information or to speak to an expert, please contact Tanya S. Arditi at [email protected] or 202-741-6258.
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