Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memo indicating that President Joe Biden's administration has formally ended the Trump-era policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico until their court dates in the US.
After Biden took office, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended new enrollments to the program formally called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).
The "Remain in Mexico" policy forced tens of thousands of Central American asylum-seekers to stay south of the US border until their claims were recognized. According to Mayorkas, the memo ending the policy was issued to agency leaders after a months-long review by his office.
Allowing Asylum Seekers
The department afterward commenced slowly allowing asylum seekers who were earlier subjects of the program into the country.
From February 19 to May 25, about 11,200 migrants were processed for entry to the US, according to the memo on Tuesday. Mayorkas stated he had determined that the directive, informally known as "Remain in Mexico," had "mixed effectiveness."
The policy is a controversial rule that coerced such people, including numerous children, to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims were processed.
In the memo, the DHS secretary remarked that the MPP did not "adequately or sustainably enhance border management," with border arrests having multiplied at times notwithstanding the program being implemented, reported Forbes.
The president halted MPP shortly after taking office on January 20. He then allowed an estimated 11,000 people who were in the program into the country.
In a February 2 executive order, Biden called for United States agencies to assess the MPP program and consider its termination.
The formal end of MPP arrives days following the DHS officially banning family separations for prosecutions of illegal border crossings. Family separations was another Trump administration policy designated to slow the asylum process, reported The Hill.
Read Also: DHS Ban: Children Will No Longer Be Separated From Their Parents Illegally Crossing US Border
Biden overturned several Trump policies
Biden, a Democrat, has overturned several of the restrictive immigration policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican. He remarked Trump did not honor US asylum laws.
Biden's ending of the MPP program has not escaped criticism from the Republicans. Republicans claim that Biden has encouraged migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border in the past few months.
According to Mayorkas in the memo, "Throughout the program, border encounters increased during certain periods and decreased during others. Moreover, in making my assessment, I share the belief that we can only manage migration in an effective, responsible, and durable manner if we approach the issue comprehensively, looking well beyond our own borders," reported The Denver Channel.
Critics said the program subjected numerous asylum seekers to extortion, kidnapping, and brutality in Mexico border cities where gangs wield considerable power. They touted it as inhumane and reckless.
Meanwhile, advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, cheered the decision. They filed a lawsuit alongside other groups to challenge the policy when it was initially implemented in 2019.
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