US: ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy to be reinstated

Local governments and communities prepare to assist migrants as the Biden administration considers the reinstatement of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program.

The Trump-era policy, also known as “Remain in Mexico,” forced more than 65,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexican border cities - usually Juarez, Tijuana, Matamoros - for their asylum hearings in the US immigration court, according to the Border Report. 

Such migrants, Fox News suggested, are crowding the US-Mexico border with intentions to enter the US amid plans of the policy’s reapplication.

President Joe Biden suspended the MPP when he took office, but a lawsuit brought by Texas and Missouri prompted the administration to comply and resume the program.

This takes place as illegal immigration in the Southern border reaches a record level of apprehensions of 1.7 million, the Border Report detailed.

The Mexican government has yet to indicate whether it will go along with Biden as it did with Trump.

Advocates of the “Remain in Mexico” policy described it as incredibly effective and one that helped end the process of "catch and release,” Fox News said.

Executive director of El Paso’s Hope Border Institute, Dylan Corbett expressed disappointment at the apparent restoration of the MPP program. 

“There is no way to re-institute MPP in a way that is safe or humane. If you have an unjust policy on top of another unjust policy, we’re going to see a significant exacerbation of human need and vulnerability across the border,” Corbett said, per the Border Report. 

Challenges include additional populations in need of shelter, food, medical, legal, and psychological services of which the people cannot afford.