WASHINGTON -- The United States has announced that President Donald Trump will pull the country out of the United Nations Global Compact on Migration, saying it interferes with U.S. sovereignty.
The State Department late on December 2 said the compact “contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with U.S. immigration and refugee policies and the Trump Administration’s immigration principles.
“As a result, President Donald Trump determined that the United States would end its participation in the compact process.”
The State Department noted that U.S. participation in the process began in 2016, “following the Obama Administration’s decision to join the UN’s New York Declaration on Migration.”
The UN states that the nonbinding New York Declaration “expresses the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights, and share responsibility on a global scale.”
The process involving some 193 countries It looks to “protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status.”
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said that “the global approach” in the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants “is simply not compatible with U.S. sovereignty.”
“America is proud of our immigrant heritage and our longstanding moral leadership in providing support to migrant and refugee populations across the globe.
“But our decisions on immigration policies must always be made by Americans and Americans alone,” she added.
“We will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country.”
The announcement comes ahead of a scheduled three-day conference on the Global Compact on December 4-6 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The conference will discuss recommendations for finalization of the accord, formally known as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).