The asylum agreement between the US and El Salvador is ready to go into effect | CNN

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An asylum agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador is set to go into effect, according to a memo obtained by CNN.

The agreement, signed last year, would send some migrants seeking asylum at the United States border to El Salvador.

Immigrant advocacy groups have criticized the agreements, arguing that they put immigrants in danger.

MIRA: Asylum seekers in the US will be sent to El Salvador to await a response to their request

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, who traveled to Panama and El Salvador this week, called the implementation of the so-called Cooperative Asylum Agreement a "critical step in establishing a truly regional approach to migration and, more specifically, of offering protection to migrants who are victims of persecution, ”according to the memo.

The asylum agreement was scheduled to be part of the discussion between Wolf and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele this week, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In the final days of Trump's presidency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is trying to step up agreements to send asylum seekers to Central American countries, plans that have largely been under the radar during the pandemic of coronavirus, CNN previously reported.

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The Cooperative Asylum Agreements, initiated last year, marked a significant change in US asylum policy, as migrants who may have legitimate asylum claims are sent to other countries to present their cases.

The United States reached agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but only the agreement with Guatemala was actually in progress.

Last January, Wolf announced that the United States had finalized the details of the asylum agreement with Honduras.

MIRA: The US Government imposes new rules on the asylum process

This is how the asylum agreement between the US and El Salvador was forged

Initially, El Salvador opposed the agreement.

As the smallest country in the region, it wanted to take on the least burden of asylum seekers, aiming to accept only foreign nationals from neighboring countries to which it could easily deport people, said a DHS source familiar with the discussions. .

Before the pandemic, the United States had sent several people to Guatemala to seek protection there and had started sending people to Honduras.

However, the use of asylum agreements declined amid the pandemic as the United States began quickly returning people to Mexico under a public health order, the source added.

It is unclear who will be subject to the agreement between the United States and El Salvador, and if the agreement will be implemented before the change of administration.

CNN's Geneva Sands contributed to this report.