The Biden administration has officially restarted the Remain
in Mexico policy that was implemented by the Trump administration
and which Biden had promised to stop during his presidential campaign.
This policy was created in 2019 and has been used to send
approximately 70,000 asylum seekers
to border towns in Mexico to await their immigration cases,
where they have been subject to sexual assault, kidnapings and torture.
Stay tuned for all the details because this policy has important implications
for immigration in the United States and has been expanded to apply
to every asylum seeker from any country in the Western Hemisphere.
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The Remain in Mexico policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols
or the MPP for short, was shut down by President Biden when he first took
office, fulfilling his campaign promise to end the controversial program.
Unfortunately, in August of this year, a U.S.
district judge in Texas ruled that the Biden administration
had to resume the program until it could be rescinded
in a way that complied with the Administrative Procedures Act.
And the Supreme Court refused to block the lower court's ruling.
As a result, DHS has had to enforce and implement
the MPP in good faith until it can be lawfully rescinded.
That began on Monday
as migrants started to be returned to an undisclosed border city.
In October, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote a memo
insisting that the Biden administration remains committed to eventually
ending the program, but immigration activists are skeptical.
Some of the relatively positive changes to this policy
under Biden include improved access to legal representatives,
COVID 19 vaccinations, and a faster court hearing process.
But with immigration courts backlog and with no phone lines for migrants
to contact legal representation,
it will be difficult to deliver on some of these promises.
Another change includes the ability of border agents to interview migrants
fearing for their lives to determine whether or not they face a reasonable
possibility of danger in Mexico, something these agents are not qualified to do.
And the biggest change that has immigration activists up in arms
is the fact that Biden's administration has expanded the policy
to cover citizens of all countries in the Western Hemisphere,
whereas it was previously limited to only Spanish seeking asylum seekers.
This goes beyond the good faith compliance and has many questioning
Biden's intentions to permanently end the policy.
I will continue bringing you more information on this policy
and other immigration news as it becomes available,
so if you have not yet subscribed, make sure to do so now.
So what does this mean for migrants and asylum seekers in the US?
There is no way for the US to ensure migrants safety while they remain
in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.
Human Rights First has been collecting publicly reported cases
of violent attacks on individuals returned to Mexico under the MPP
since 2019 and they number into the hundreds.
Under former President Trump, thousands of migrants lived in
overcrowded shelters in border cities like Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez,
and Matamoros where they were easy targets for organized crime.
The reinstatement of this policy will also likely slow down
asylum processing for everyone, including Mexican nationals.
The Mexican government is requesting that asylum seekers receive counsel
and have their claims processed within six months,
but most migrants in Mexico take months just to find an attorney for their case.
And once they do so, it can be difficult to work together.
In response, policy director at the American Immigration Council, Jorge
Laurie, issued a statement saying: "We categorically reject
the Biden administration's claims that it can administer the Remain
in Mexico program in a more humane manner...
The longer the administration delays terminating this unlawful and cruel
policy, the more people will suffer." What do you think?
Will the Biden administration eventually terminate this policy,
or will they continue using it to slow their recent increase
in border crossings, as they have with Title 42?
Leave me comment and let me know!
And be sure to check out my recent immigration video on the provisions
in the Build Back Better Reconciliation Bill,
which were recently reviewed by the Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonnell.
I will include a link to that video
here, and I will continue to bring you more news as updates become available.
Click to see this video and I'll see you there.