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 Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Wednesday that the
United States would work with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees to expand opportunities for people from El Salvador,
Guatemala and Honduras to apply for refugee status before coming to
the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently conducted raids in
the United States on Central American families who had fled the
region in an effort to deter others from doing the same.
"That frankly leaves us scratching our heads and leaves us wondering
how the administration could be talking about the refugee
resettlement issue in such different terms," said Wendy Young,
president of Kids in Need of Defense, an advocacy organization for
children who enter the U.S. immigration system alone.
Young said the families were not given due process before being
deported.
 The question of what claim Central Americans fleeing violence have
to refugee status in the United States comes amid a polarized
national debate about the U.S. immigration system.
Some congressional Republicans have said migrants, including
refugees from Central America and the Middle East, could threaten
public health and national security. More than 140 Democrats in the
U.S. House wrote a letter to President Barack Obama condemning the
deportation raids.
Refugee and immigration advocates said the administration's plan to
deport Central Americans from the United States while increasing
opportunities for them to seek asylum from their own countries
wrongfully assumes that those asking for asylum at the border are a
threat.
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The asylum application process, which can take two years, is
unfeasible for families needing to flee violence quickly, said Jen
Smyers, associate director of immigration and refugee policy at
Church World Service.
Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights and justice at the
Women's Refugee Commission, said the administration's "border
enforcement approach to this issue has been a mistake from the
beginning."
Young said the administration wanted to counter the perception that
border is out of control but "I think what they're going to find out
is that the most dangerous political calculation is that the
immigrant rights community ... are now all unifying and speaking out
in strong opposition to this new policy."
(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Bill Trott)
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