Half a Million Nicaraguan Migrants Need Political Asylum in the US
Experts warn: The vast majority have not yet applied for asylum, amid an electoral debate that aims to impose more immigration restrictions.
CARLOS F. CHAMORRO
21 de mayo 2024
Since the outbreak of the socio-political crisis and massive repression in Nicaragua in 2018, more than half a million Nicaraguan migrants have entered the United States. The vast majority arrived by land at the U.S.-Mexico border, and approximately 60,000 entered by air through the humanitarian parole that allows them to stay in the country for two years.
Most of the migrants are facing an uncertain situation presently because they have not applied for political asylum and have an irregular legal status, amid a highly polarized electoral debate in which Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are competing to impose new restrictive measures on migration.
In an interview in Esta Semana, attorney Astrid Montealegre, an expert on migration issues and advisor to the Nicaraguan American Human Rights Alliance (NAHRA), and researcher Manuel Orozco, an expert on migration and remittances at the Inter-American Dialogue, warned about the seriousness of this situation and recommended that all people with an irregular legal status study their cases of political persecution or religious persecution, and file their asylum applications as soon as possible, a process that is slow and extremely complex.
https://confidencial.digital/english/half-a-million-nicaraguan-migrants-need-political-asylum-in-the-us/