The Biden Administration reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols program also known as ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy on Monday.
The program was started under President Trump’s Administration in 2019, it forced asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while awaiting a court date in the United States.
The program was stopped once President Biden took office, however following a lawsuit filed by Texas and Missouri a federal judge forced the administration to reinstate the program.
One difference is this time the Mexican government demanded specific humanitarian improvements as conditions of agreeing to accept enrollees.
The Mexican government asked for the guarantee that asylum seekers will receive counsel and have their humanitarian claims processed within 180-days or 6 months.
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We spoke with Immigration Defense Attorney, Alexis Lucero who said that timeline is not only difficult but further exposes already vulnerable populations.
“ That 6 month time frame is incredibly difficult to maintain, that means we have an approximation of 6 months from the beginning all the way up to completion, most migrants that actually find themselves in an MPP proceedings in Mexico won’t even be able to find an attorney until about 2 months, so that’s already shaving a lot of time off.”
Lucero added asylum seekers have to find work to sustain themselves until their court date which poses a significant strain to the type of resources they have.
In addition, the reinstatement of the MPP program could bring a huge delay for open asylum-seeker cases, most notably for Mexican nationals who will not be considered for MPP enrollment.
The “updated” ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy also subjects non-Spanish speaking, western-hemisphere countries such as Jamaica and other Caribbean countries.
Lucero added the new incarnation of the policy will allow the Department of Homeland Security to take more into consideration the physical and mental disabilities of a person.
“ DHS is able to take a little bit more into consideration, especially whether a person is pregnant and whether for example they are part of a family unit, now if that pregnant person or the person who has a physical/ mental disability is part of a family unit, the entire family unit would be considered for release from the program and will actually seek entry into the U.S.”
While this is a positive change, Lucero said the program remains almost identical to the 2019-2020 version.
The Biden Administration announced it wants to permanently eliminate the program but there is not yet a timeline as to when that could happen.
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