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US, Honduras Sign Immigration Deal

VOA News

   The United States and Honduras signed an agreement Wednesday as part of
   a U.S. effort to stem the flow of Central American migrants trying to
   cross from Mexico.

   Details of the agreement have not been released, but it comes after two
   so-called "safe third country" deals the U.S. recently signed with El
   Salvador and Guatemala.

   Those agreements require anyone seeking refuge in the United States to
   apply for asylum in the first apparently safe country they enter after
   fleeing their homelands.

   A top Homeland Security official told reporters the Honduras deal "will
   allow migrants to seek protection as close to home as possible."

   But advocates for immigrants criticize the safe third country deals,
   saying they keep migrants stuck in the same violent and impoverished
   conditions they are trying to escape.

   A 2018 State Department report described Honduras as being overrun by
   violent gangs and drug traffickers who carry out murders, extortion,
   kidnapping and torture, and intimidate human rights officials, judicial
   authorities and others.

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