As migrants move north towards the border and GOP legislators submit legislation to prevent the White House from paying out migrant families separated by the previous administration, Joe Biden was compelled to continue the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy on Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that it is following a court order to reintroduce the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which require asylum seekers who crossed the border through Mexico to remain in the nation while awaiting US court hearings on their claim.
Biden revives Trump-era policy
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security feels the program "had endemic flaws, imposed unacceptable human costs, diverted resources, and staff away from other priority operations, and failed to address the core causes of irregular migration."
Senators John Cornyn of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent Biden from handing out $450,000 checks to each illegal immigrant separated from their families under Trump's administration.
Last month, reports surfaced that Trump was considering making large payments to migrants who were part of a family unit and are suing the government after being separated while in detention when Trump was president, as per Daily Mail.
According to the report, because the payments would be made per person, some illegal migrant families might receive payments in the millions if they were carried out. When challenged about the claims in November, Biden branded them "garbage," but later defended the proposed payments while rejecting the $450,000 figure.
According to the authorities, the US would take efforts to meet Mexico's humanitarian concerns with the program, including providing vaccinations to migrants and exempting more vulnerable groups.
Before enrolling in the program, migrants will be asked if they fear persecution or torture in Mexico, and they will have access to legal representation, according to US officials on a teleconference with media on Thursday.
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Immigrants are forced to wait in Mexico
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, halted the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program shortly after taking office in January. However, in August, a federal court decided that Biden's revocation did not follow appropriate protocol and ordered that it be reinstated. Per AOL, before the policy could resume, the US administration stated it needed to wait for Mexico's assent. "The United States approved all of our criteria," one Mexican official stated.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is still working to terminate the MPP program, filing a fresh rescission document in the hopes of resolving the court's legal objections.
Former Republican President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies included this policy, which sent tens of thousands of people who crossed the US-Mexico land border back to Mexico to wait months, if not years, to present their cases in US immigration hearings held in makeshift courtrooms near the border.
Meanwhile, in an open discussion with foreign media, Donald Trump spoke with Nigel Farage for the first time in over a year. The interview, which was broadcast on GB News, gave a fascinating peek into the former President's current life as well as his views on a number of global concerns, as per Express.co.
The 75-year-old singled out Joe Biden for removing a Winston Churchill bust from the White House. He also slammed the United States for removing soldiers from Afghanistan, a decision that has mostly backfired in the country. In a Fox News interview, the former President also criticized Joe Biden's vaccination campaign in the US.
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