The US Department of Homeland Security announced Monday night it would end a Trump-era policy of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico while their cases are reviewed by courts.
The announcement came hours after a judge overturned an injunction preventing US President Joe Biden’s administration from repealing the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPPs), a measure dubbed “Remain in Mexico.” -stay city).
The “Staying in Mexico”, which was heavily criticized by civil rights groups, was implemented in 2019 under the presidency of Donald Trump, who had made the fight against illegal immigration one of the hallmarks of his politics.
The measure will be abolished “quickly and orderly”, the ministry wrote in a statement.
The “PPMs have endemic deficiencies, incur unjustified personnel costs, and divert resources and personnel from other priority efforts to secure our border,” the ministry reasoned.
Shortly after taking office, Mr. Biden had tried to end this in favor of a more humane approach to immigration. But Republican-ruled states, including Texas, had challenged the decision in court and won their case.
The government then revised the project and appealed to the Supreme Court, which on June 30 finally upheld the Joe Biden administration’s repeal of the immigration decree.
From the policy’s inception in January 2019 to its initial suspension under Biden, at least 70,000 people were repatriated to Mexico, according to the American Immigration Council.
Each month during Biden’s tenure, more than 200,000 people attempting to enter the country illegally have been stopped at the border and turned back, either under PPMs or under a separate policy related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, people are at the border blocked.