Trump Says Kids Shouldn't Come To U.S. Illegally. He's Also Limiting Their Legal Options.

WASHINGTON ― Central American immigrants in the U.S. already had few ways to legally bring their children over to join them. Now they have even fewer, thanks to President Donald Trump ― and about 2,700 people already conditionally approved to come to the country are now stuck.

As of Wednesday, the Trump administration will no longer consider parole for Central American minors who are screened for refugee status, shutting down a pathway former President Barack Obama created to deter children and teenagers fleeing violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala from attempting to enter the U.S. without authorization.

The Trump administration often talks about the need to deter unauthorized immigration by minors, including the dangers children and teens face when they make the journey alone. But they’re not allowing many Central American minors to come legally, either.

“It’s really this administration trapping children in situations of danger and abandoning these children,” said Lisa Frydman of Kids in Need of Defense, which advocates for immigrant and refugee minors.

The Central American Minors program allows people lawfully present in the U.S. to request permission for their children and, in some cases, grandchildren or partners, to join them. It then screens those individuals to see if they qualify to enter the country as refugees.

Up until Wednesday, if people didn’t meet the narrow definition of “refugee” and were deemed to be in danger, they could still qualify for parole, which allowed them to come to the U.S. on a legal but temporary basis. (Refugee status puts individuals on a path to citizenship.)

The majority of applicants to the Central American Minors program were recommended for parole. As of mid-July, about 70 percent of those interviewed for the program and issued a decision were recommended for parole, while 30 percent were approved as refugees and 1 percent were denied for parole or refugee status, according to U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.

The program has had its problems ― critics say it moves too slowly, and some parents have said they eventually turned to smugglers because they felt their children were in imminent danger. But while it’s had a negligible impact on immigration numbers, the program has also allowed more than 3,000 people, about half of them under parole, to travel to the U.S. and reunite with their families.

The refugee portion of the Central American Minors program will remain in place, according to government officials. But eliminating the possibility for parole under the program could be devastating to people already in the pipeline who will now have to start at square one and might not be able to find a way to come legally to the U.S. at all.

Salvadorans will be the most affected: Thanks to the parole policy, more than 2,400 of them have received conditional approval to enter the U.S., along with about 230 people in Honduras and about 40 in Guatemala, according to USCIS. Their conditional approval has now been rescinded and they will not able to come to the U.S. on parole.

The agency suspended the parole program after Trump ordered a review in January to ramp up immigration enforcement. The executive order instructed USCIS to exercise parole only on a case-by-case basis. An agency spokesman said Central American minors can still apply for humanitarian parole, although their program has been eliminated.

After considering the program based on Trump’s executive order, DHS decided to end it, USCIS spokesman R. Carter Langston said in a statement.

“The CAM Parole program was implemented as part of an integrated strategy to address factors contributing to increases in migration from Central America to the United States,” Langston said. “However, as indicated by the President’s Executive Order, DHS is pursuing a new strategy to secure the U.S. southern border.”

Immigrant and refugee advocates say the new situation could be a boon to smugglers. Desperate parents may turn to smugglers more often if they have no other option, said Lavinia Limón, president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a resettlement organization.

“Every parent has to ask themselves what would they do to rescue their child, and I don’t think most people put a limit on that,” Limón said. “Yet this administration has decided that that’s not the right thing to do.”

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.