by the El Reportero’s wire services
The U.S. government will now allow minors in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras who have a relative living legally in the United States to apply for asylum or a residency permit at offices in their own country, Vice President Joe Biden said Friday.
The program, which begins in December, “will provide a safe, legal, and orderly alternative to the dangerous journey that some children make – and some children don’t ever arrive, don’t ever make,” the vice president said at a conference attended by the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in Washington.
Parents in the United States will kick off the process by filling out an application form for their child – who must be younger than age 21 and unmarried – requesting that he or she be granted an interview at a U.S. office in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras, the State Department said.
The State Department stressed that the applications will be studied case by case.
Nonetheless, children who do not comply with the requisites for refugee status, but are in danger of being harmed if they stay where they are, will be considered for a special residency permit on humanitarian grounds.
The permit for humanitarian asylum allows a temporary entry into the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons but does not grant long-term immigration benefits.
In addition, if the spouse of a person living legally in the United States continues to dwell in their country of origin, “under certain circumstances” they can be included in the minor’s application for refugee status.
Once the family member fills out the form in the United States, the minors will be interviewed in their country of origin to make sure they comply with security regulations, have an up-to-date medical report, and must undergo DNA tests to verify that children and parents are related.
The United States “provides those seeking asylum a right way to come to our country, as opposed to crossing the border illegally,” Vice President Biden said.
Former Mayor of Iguala to Face Kidnapping & Murder Charges for 43 Missing Students
Former Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca Velazquez, who has been linked to the disappearance of 43 education students in September, will remain in custody and face a criminal trial, Mexican judicial officials said.
A federal criminal court in Toluca, a city in Mexico state, will try Abarca on organized crime, kidnapping and murder charges, the Federal Judiciary Council, or CJF, said.
The court issued the order as part of proceedings initiated by a court in Matamoros, a border city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.
Abarca is being held at the Altiplano federal penitentiary in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.
Abarca served as mayor of Iguala, a city in the southern state of Guerrero.
The politician and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, were arrested by the Federal Police on Nov. 4 in Mexico City.
Pineda is being held in preventive detention so prosecutors can gather more evidence in the case.
Six people died, 25 were wounded and 43 students disappeared in the incident.
The 43 students, the majority of them ages 18 to 21, were detained by police and handed over to the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel, which killed them and burned the bodies to eliminate all traces of the victims, officials said, citing statements by suspects in the case.
The students’ disappearance has sparked protests across Mexico.
