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SAN DIEGO (AP) – The Biden administration on Friday announced plans to allow tens of thousands of asylum seekers in Mexico to wait for their next hearings in U.S. immigration court while their cases continue.
The first of some 25,000 asylum seekers in Mexico with active cases will be cleared in the United States on February 19, authorities said. They plan to start slowly with two border crossings each handling up to 300 people per day and a third crossing taking less. Administration officials declined to name them for fear of encouraging an influx of people to these places.
The move is a major step towards dismantling one of former President Donald Trump’s most important policies to deter asylum seekers from coming to the United States. About 70,000 asylum seekers have been enrolled in the Stay in Mexico program.“Officially called“ Migrant Protection Protocols ”, since its introduction in January 2019.
Biden’s first day at the office, the Department of Homeland Security suspended the policy for newcomers. Since then, some asylum seekers taken in at the border have been released in the United States with court notices.
Biden quickly delivers on his election promise to end the policy, which the Trump administration said was key to reversing a wave of asylum seekers that peaked in 2019. But the policy has also exposed people to violence in Mexican border towns and made it extremely difficult for them to find lawyers and communicate with the courts about their cases.
“As President Biden has made clear, the US government is committed to rebuilding a safe, orderly and humane immigration system,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “This latest action is another step in our commitment to reform immigration policies that do not match our country’s values.”
Homeland Security said the move “should not be interpreted as an opening for people to migrate irregularly to the United States.” Administration officials have repeatedly said the vast majority of people who cross the border illegally are being quickly deported under a public health order in place since the outbreak of the pandemic in March, but the release of some families of asylum seekers in Texas and California played against this message. .
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday she was concerned that limited publications in the United States would encourage other people to cross illegally because “we don’t want people to walk over. in danger at a time when it is not a good time to come, because we did not have time to put in place a human and moral system and process.
The hearings of people enrolled in the “Stay in Mexico” program have been suspended since June due to the pandemic. Letting people know when to show up at the border to be released in the United States can be overwhelming.
Homeland Security said it will soon announce a “virtual check-in process” available online and by phone so people know when and where to report. He urged asylum seekers not to show up at the border without instruction.
Asylum seekers will be tested for COVID-19 before entering the United States
The announcement brings no relief to those whose cases have been dismissed or rejected, although administration officials have not ruled out further action. Advocates argue that communication problems, including the lack of working addresses in Mexico, have caused some to miss hearings and lose their cases as a result.
More and more people have been stopped from crossing the border illegally since Biden took office.
Raul Ortiz, deputy head of border patrol, said on Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been prevented from crossing the border illegally in the previous 10 days, up from a daily average of 2,426 in January.
About 50 to 80 adults and children have arrived every day since Jan. 27 at Catholic charities in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which temporarily house people released by the border patrol, said Sister Norma Pimentel, the group’s executive director. The charity is testing for COVID-19 and sending anyone who tests positive to a hotel for isolation.
San Diego’s Jewish Family Service housed 191 asylum seekers in the first 10 days of February after their release from U.S. authorities, up from 144 in January and 54 in December, said Eitan Peled, the group’s border services lawyer. . They are quarantined in hotels for 10 days.
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