It’s been reported earlier today that the Biden administration has reached an agreement with the government of Mexico to restart the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy that saw migrants shunted to south of the border to wait for their asylum hearing if they were caught crossing illegally into the U.S.The deal comes on the heels of federal court rulings ordering the administration to reimplement the program after President Joe Biden illegally ended it via executive order shortly after taking office in January.
“As required by a federal court order, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been working in good faith to re-implement the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.about:blank
“Today, in coordination with the Departments of State and Justice, DHS announced key changes to MPP to address humanitarian concerns raised by the Government of Mexico and shared by the U.S. Government,” the statement continued.
The administration is still looking for a way to permanently abolish the program, as Fox News reports:
The Biden administration had abolished the program, known officially as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), earlier this year. The program, set up and expanded in 2019, kept migrants in Mexico while migrants awaited their hearings rather than being released into the U.S. interior. It saw the construction of court tents along the southern border which migrants would enter for their proceedings.
The Trump administration hailed it as a key cog in its efforts to end “catch-and-release” and stem the flow of migrants that had surged into the U.S. that year. Opponents have said the policy was cruel and puts migrants at risk of violence and exploitation in Mexico. The Biden administration began unraveling the program shortly after entering office, and shut it down entirely in June.
But a federal court order, upheld by the Supreme Court, ordered the Biden administration to re-implement the program after Missouri and Texas argued that the policy had not been rescinded lawfully.
