US ends policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico – International

The US Department of Homeland Security announced Monday night (8) that it would end its policy of requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their claims are resolved in court.

The announcement came after a judge suspended a court order blocking the Joe Biden administration from repealing the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

Under the policy, adopted in 2019 by former President Donald Trump, tens of thousands of asylum seekers were sent to Mexico to appear in a US court for their immigration hearings.

The plan was considered cruel and dangerous, leaving vulnerable people in the border towns insecure.

The department said in a statement that the policy would be phased out “swiftly and orderly”. He added that no one else would be included and that those crossing the border would not be returned to Mexico to attend court hearings.

The Department added that the Immigration Protection Protocol (PPM), as the policy is officially called, “is inherently flawed, imposes unnecessary human costs, and takes resources and personnel away from other priority missions of securing our borders.”

Shortly after taking office, Biden tried to dismiss the measure as part of a humanitarian approach to immigration. But several Republican-controlled states, led by Texas, sued the federal government, and a court in the capital ordered the policy reinstated.

The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled on June 30 that Biden had the authority to end the plan.

From the policy’s inception in January 2019 to its initial suspension, at least 70,000 people have been sent to Mexico, according to the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit organization founded in 1987.

The Trump administration argued that the policy would deter illegal immigration to the United States.

During Biden’s tenure, authorities have denied entry to more than 200,000 people who tried to enter illegally and were turned away by BPM or other border regulations adopted by the coronavirus pandemic.