The United States and El Salvador reached an immigration agreement on Friday, the interim secretary of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, and Salvadoran Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill reported in a joint press conference in Washington, D.C.
“Today, we are happy to announce the signing of a cooperation agreement between the United States and El Salvador,” McAleenan said.
The US secretary explained that “the core of this agreement is to recognize the development of an asylum system in El Salvador and help them develop that capacity.”
Chancellor Hill said in turn that the greatest ally of the new Nayib Bukele government is the United States.
“We need to rebuild the relationship with the United States,” said the head of Salvadoran diplomacy.
For McAleenan, this agreement adds to the “good work” that the United States is doing with Guatemala, which together with El Salvador and Honduras make up the Northern Triangle of Central America, from where people migrate to the United States to flee poverty and violence.
At the end of August, McAleenan visited El Salvador, where he met with Bukele and signed a first cooperation and migration agreement to combat violent gangs.
According to the agreement reached San Salvador, both countries “reaffirmed their commitment to work collaboratively” in the fight against illegal migration to the United States and in “supporting border security, especially against trafficking and smuggling networks.”
Trump declared in 2018 a “zero tolerance” policy on the border with Mexico in the face of the growing arrival of undocumented immigrants, mostly families from Central America.
