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Interesting note (h/t @NickMiroff) on the finalized asylum agreement btw US & El Salvador. https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/el-salvador-asylum-us-border/2020/12/15/2a1f682a-3f2a-11eb-a402-fba110db3b42_story.html
These asylum agreements represent DHS's "deep" thinking on regional immigration. That's how they're viewed inside the dept, anyway. And to a certain extent that makes sense: DHS's main mission on immigration/asylum issues is about the US border and regulating 'flow' of ppl. 2/
Insofar as regulating this flow of people has to do with international and regional trends, DHS has an international, quasi-diplomatic role to play with foreign governments. But the priority of keeping too many ppl from massing at the border is narrow & *very* tailored. 3/
These agreements really do represent the end of American asylum as we've known it. 4/
Some of the ideas floating around the Biden orbit re: regional approaches to immigration will necessarily have an international bent. But there's a range of possibilities that could broaden the thinking beyond the limited DHS frame that's dominated policy-making to date. 5/
What's described in the WaPo piece (and in Biden team's own language) as "regional processing" means something very different than Trump's asylum cooperative agreements. For one thing, ppl wld be applying for asylum *to* the US. The door would be open, not closed. 6/
Ditto for the Central American Minors Program under Obama. It will be very revealing to see how the Biden Administration lays this out once it's in office. Obviously a ton of question marks at this point. end/
