‘Stay in Mexico 2.0’: How Did Trump’s Politics Revive? | Migration News

Washington, DC – Since early December, more than 200 people seeking asylum in the United States have been sent to Mexico to await U.S. court hearings, a rights organization said when immigration policy was revived during Trump’s time.

President Joe Biden’s administration wanted to end the Migration Protection Protocol (MPP), saying the program had affected migrants and refugees. unnecessary danger in Mexico.

But a Texas court ordered the policy, also known as a policy Stay in Mexico – It was restarted in August, after Missouri and Texas sued the Biden administration, arguing that it ended the policy without following proper procedures.

In early December, the Biden administration reinstated the program – with some changes – in line with the court’s decision. At the same time, he has asked the Supreme Court for permission to terminate the MPP.

But experts say the nation’s Supreme Court is not expected to rule before the end of June, and in the meantime, asylum seekers may return to Mexico according to what immigration advocates have called “Gesture in Mexico 2.0.”

Here, Al Jazeera looks at what’s going on:

What is the ‘Stay in Mexico’ program?

Former President Donald Trump, who made immigration reduction one of his main policy goals, created the MPP to prevent migrants and refugees from being considered a “frivolous” asylum seeker.

The policy came into force last year January 2019, forced asylum seekers to wait in the U.S. Immigration Courts in Mexico for months and sometimes years.

About 70,000 people, including children, had to wait in border towns in Mexico, often in dangerous and unhealthy refugee camps as a result of politics. Access to legal advice was also limited.

The U.S. and international rights groups have been sharply criticized by the MPP for violating its obligations under domestic and international law.

What did President Joe Biden do?

Fulfilling the campaign promise, Biden stopped new enrollments in the program on January 20, its first day, when the MPP was suspended.

In the following months, his administration began release politics Allowing people still waiting in Mexico to enter the U.S. to pursue asylum applications. Starting in February, more than that 25,000 people they were released on parole in the US.

Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas then issued a statement June 2021 formally ending politics.

So what happened?

In August, Trump-appointed judge Matthew Kacsmary sued the two-state Republican-led Biden administration over the “arbitrary” end of the MPP. Kacsmary ordered the administration to reinstate the policy.

The Biden administration appealed the decision U.S. Supreme Court, but refused to block a Texas court ruling.

So what does this mean for MPP?

The Biden administration said it would comply with a Texas court order, but would continue to work to end the policy. He later said the MPP would make it “more humane”.

Mayorkas issued a second note The MPP dealt with issues raised by states that were sued in the October 2021 suspension. In a 39-page explanation, Mayorkas said that although it helped reduce the arrival of migrants and refugees at the border, the MPP wasted people in vain while they waited in Mexico.

“The MPP had endemic flaws, set unjustifiable human costs, diverted resources and staff from other priority efforts, and failed to address the causes of irregular migration,” Mayorkas said.

Migrants and refugees under the “Gesture in Mexico” program were detained in a specific camp in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. [File: Loren Elliott/Reuters]

So when did ‘Remain in Mexico 2.0’ come into force?

The policy came into force on December 6, and the first two migrants returned to Mexico December 8.

Is this new repetition of the policy different from the previous one?

The Biden administration pledged to make advice more accessible to asylum seekers – 9 per cent of MPP enrollees had access to lawyers according to the previous version of the MPP, according to the Institute for Migration Policy – and the case would be completed within 180 days.

Mexico called for exemptions from the “particularly vulnerable populations” program, including people with mental and physical disabilities, the elderly, those with illnesses, and LGBTQ people.

Are these promises fulfilled?

Immigration advocates say no. Yael Schacher, Deputy Director of Refugees for the Americas and Europe, attended the first two days of the MPP on January 3 and 4 in El Paso, Texas. Schacher told El Paso Matters, a non-profit media organization, that only five of the 82 people enrolled in the MPP had heard of legal advice in those days.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy adviser to the U.S. Immigration Council, also said that “access to counseling continues to be a problem.”

He told Al Jazeera that the Biden administration “cannot solve the basic problem of helping asylum seekers in the United States to find a way to help find lawyers in the north of Mexico who have almost no resources and are stuck with little security.” .

Migrants and refugees queuing for the “Gesture in Mexico” program outside the National Migration Institute (INM) [File: Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters]

How many people have been sent to Mexico with the new version of the MPP?

In an email to Al Jazeera, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it would not say how many people returned or at what border crossings.

But according to data collected by Human Rights First, which coordinates with the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM), according to the latest version of the MPP, only 217 adult men traveling to Mexico returned from December 8 to January 4.

More than half — 135 people — were from Nicaragua and 46 from Venezuela. The other people returning under the MPP were from Cuba, Ecuador and Colombia.

It has been a month since the Biden administrator restarted Remain in Mexico (MPP). DHS has returned 217 migrants and asylum seekers under the Nicaragua (62%), Venezuela (22%), Cuba (7%), Ecuador (6%) and Colombia (3%) programs, while continuing to use Title 42 to deport others. . @humanrightsfirst pic.twitter.com/aTHfHKyGR6

– Julia Neusner (@JuliaNeusner) January 4, 2022

How does the removal process work?

According to the new version of the policy, migrants and refugees are temporarily housed in DHS facilities until they can be interviewed by an asylum officer who will assess their “reasonable” fear of returning to Mexico as an official, known as a no-return interview.

If they consider it “safe” to return to Mexico, then they cross the border. MPPs are being applied at two border crossings: El Paso, Texas and San Diego, California. The program is expected to expand to include five more input ports.

Once in Mexico, INM officials are accused of being taken to a Mexican-funded facility, where they will remain until the next U.S. court. Mexican officials have pushed MPP applicants back and forth to the borders.

According to the first version of the MPP and until February 2021, Human Rights First reported that at least 1,544 migrants and refugees in the program had been killed, attacked, robbed, kidnapped or raped in Mexico. [File: Henry Romero/Reuters]

What do rights groups say about this process?

Rights groups say non-return talks are problematic because asylum seekers are not well enough informed about their purpose and consequences.

“A lot of people didn’t know they had the right to talk to a lawyer before a non-return conversation about the fear of returning to Mexico,” said Julia Neusner, a Human Rights First refugee protection lawyer who has tracked MPP’s progress. .

“People didn’t understand what the purpose of the conversation was, and as a result, those who were legitimately afraid to return to Mexico were returning to the program,” Neusner told Al Jazeera, adding that several applicants had been kidnapped or extorted before. Mexican police signed up for the program.

Is there anything else in the new policy?

In the original program, only citizens of Spanish-speaking countries and Brazilians were included in the MPP deductions.

The new MPP has been expanded to include all citizens of the Western Hemisphere except Mexico. This means that Haitians, along with migrants and refugees from other Caribbean nations, can now be placed in the MPP. This extension did not require orders from the Texas court.

Is it safe to send people to Mexico?

According to the first rerun of the MPP, and as of February 2021, Human Rights First reported that at least 1,544 migrants and refugees in the program had been killed, attacked, robbed, kidnapped or raped in Mexico. Many completely abandoned their asylum applications.

The rights team says security concerns for migrants and refugees have not been resolved.

“There is no conceivable way to make Remain in Mexico safe and humane, much less legitimate,” said Kennji Kizuka, associate director of refugee protection research and analysis at Human Rights First, in the latest virtual news release.

“And in view of these inherent dangers, it is extremely inevitable that there will be more reports of kidnappings and attacks on people returning under the latest version of the policy.”