Photo: Margarito Diaz
The policies left by the Trump administration strongly impacted the lives of people who, due to violence, extreme poverty, climate change, massive violation of human rights, or government repression, left their countries with the dream of reaching the United States to seek international protection.
They left with the hope of finding a place that would give them opportunities to lead a dignified life for themselves and their families, but they found a higher wall and a series of programs that would leave them stranded at the border for more than two years.
With the arrival of Joe Biden to the presidency of the United States, the hope of thousands of asylum seekers who wait for an opportunity to cross and ask for help was renewed, to demand that asylum be considered an essential activity and allowed to enter and start their asylum your processes.
For the Trump administration, the pandemic was a pretext to completely block the entrance to those who are in situations of extreme vulnerability, leaving them in Mexico, in government abandonment and with the risks that are on this side of the border.
On January 20, the first step of the new administration on immigration issues was taken, when the Department of Homeland Security announced that from that day on no other person would be registered under the MPP or Stay in Mexico Program, and although this is progress, the right to request asylum in the United States is not guaranteed.
A few weeks later, the Biden administration announced the beginning of the first phase for the entry of asylum seekers under MPP, that is, those who already have a case in an immigration court and await their next hearing in Mexico.
This second step generated many expectations about the actions that the Biden government will take in favor of the migrant community. However, only a small portion of people who are seeking asylum in the United States are being considered, and by not providing more information about how people who do not have an active case will be processed, the movement of people at the border has become more constant, riskier and full of rumors.
The processing of this first phase does not cover all the people who are requesting asylum. Excluded are cases that were closed without just cause, cases in which immigration agents prevented pregnant women from attending court. In limbo there are thousands of people who do not have an active case, who stayed with a number on the list and those who due to the pandemic did not manage to sign up.
For the restoration of the asylum system, it is necessary to completely eliminate the MPP program, that is, to allow the entry of all people who already have a case in an immigration court, the elimination of waiting lists, the end of expulsions of asylum seekers under Title 42 and the elimination of Cooperative Asylum Agreements (ACAs).
