PHOTO: MARGARITO DIAZ
October 15, 2021
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration announced today that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to revive and reimplement by mid-November the Migrant Protection Protocols— a Trump-era policy also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program—that sent thousands of people seeking humanitarian protection to dangerous areas of Mexico to await their hearings.
The administration says it will submit a plan to the Mexican government for their approval that would provide increased access to legal representation, faster court hearings, and better screening for particularly vulnerable individuals, but DHS has not provided details on how to ensure these safeguards will be implemented.
The reimplementation of MPP comes following a Texas district court decision that ordered the Biden administration to “reinstate MPP in good faith.” That decision, which is on appeal, ignored many critical and devastating facts demonstrating that MPP was a humanitarian catastrophe and failed to provide due process to migrants in the program. Critically, the decision does not require the administration to reimplement MPP by a specific date. The administration has indicated that it plans to issue a new memo that would formally terminate MPP, but it has failed to do so in the nearly two months since the decision in Texas.
The following statement is from Jorge Loweree, policy director at the American Immigration Council:
“There is no humane way to implement MPP. The Trump administration created MPP to eliminate due process for 70,000 people and forced vulnerable families to run a gauntlet of kidnappers and extortionists just to get to the courtroom door. The last two years prove that there is no protection possible through the Migrant Protection Protocols.
“The Biden administration has had nearly two months to issue a new memo that addresses the district court’s concerns and formally terminate the MPP program for good. The fact that it has not done so and is instead moving forward with plans to restart the program in November is a betrayal of the president’s campaign promises and a clear sign that this administration is failing to reenvision border management and the way that we treat people who are seeking protection in the United States.
“We call on DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to immediately issue a new memorandum terminating MPP. The longer the administration delays, the more peoples’ lives are at stake.”
The American Immigration Council has a range of research and other resources on the Migrant Protection Protocols, including experts available to speak on the fatal flaws in the lower court decisions and factual and legal recommendations on how to end the Migrant Protection Protocols in a second termination memorandum.
