Secretary of State Rubio met with President Bukele of El Salvador on the migration issue

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during a tour of Latin American countries, during which he is trying to persuade leaders to take decisive action to tighten migration controls along the southern border of the United States. This was reported by Reuters on February 3.

Rubio met with the President of El Salvador and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the residence of the head of state on Lake Coatepeque.

It is noted that Bukele agreed to the proposal of the American Secretary of State on a "safe third country". It would allow migrants with any US citizenship to be deported to El Salvador. Politicians have suggested this could be an option for Venezuelan gang members convicted of crimes in the United States if Venezuela refuses to accept them.

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Mass deportations of illegal aliens and threats of sanctions could disrupt the sustainability of economic ties in the region

Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration took action to lift deportation protections for 348,000 Venezuelans. More than half of all Venezuelans covered by the program could be deported and lose their work permits in April.

Prior to that, on January 23, it was reported that the U.S. detained more than 460 undocumented migrants in the first days of Trump's presidency. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested citizens from a number of countries including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela. The arrests took place across the United States.

The day before, Trump restricted the eligibility of undocumented migrants who entered the U.S. through the southern border. The US President authorized and instructed the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the State Department to take all necessary measures to immediately repel the invasion, repatriation and removal of illegal immigrants through the southern border of the country.

On the same day, the media learned of U.S. plans to send thousands of military personnel to protect the border with Mexico. To date, about 2.2 thousand military personnel are already in El Paso, Texas, as part of Task Force North.

Before that, on January 21, the curator of border security in the Trump administration Thomas Homan said that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to detain illegal migrants for their further deportation. At the same time, he noted that ICE actions cannot be called raids, as they are part of targeted law enforcement operations.

Back on January 17, Politico reported that the U.S. presidential team intends to declare a state of emergency to combat illegal migration. It was noted that officials were also working on a decree to abolish the right to U.S. citizenship by birth.