WASHINGTON (Al Jazeera) – The Biden administration is planning to reinstate a controversial Trump-era immigration policy along its southern border that forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearings in U.S. immigration court.
But the plan to restore the “Remain in Mexico” program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), next month requires the approval and cooperation of the Mexican government, which has raised concerns.
The Justice Department said in a court filing that U.S. officials are working to address those concerns.
The announcement comes after the U.S. said it would reopen its land borders with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travelers vaccinated against COVID-19 in early November – ending pandemic travel restrictions put in place in March 2020.
About 70,000 asylum seekers have been subject to the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which president Donald Trump introduced in January 2019.
Trump, who during his time in office advanced hardline, anti-immigration policies, argued that many asylum claims were fraudulent and applicants allowed into the U.S. might end up staying illegally if they skipped court hearings.
Biden ended the MPP policy soon after taking office as part of a broader pledge to take a more humane approach to immigration. But a federal court deemed the termination of the program unjustified, siding with two states who sued the administration.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, a Trump appointee, left open the possibility that the administration could try again to end the policy, however, and officials say they will release a plan soon that they hope will survive legal scrutiny.
In the meantime though, the Biden administration has said it will comply with Kacsmaryk’s ruling “in good faith” while continuing its appeal in the case – meaning that the policy will be restarted.
Immigration advocates have said the program exposed migrants to violence and kidnappings in dangerous Mexican border cities controlled by drug cartels. Many people camped out for months or years in shelters, makeshift camps or on the street, waiting for U.S. asylum hearings.
Human Rights First, a Washington, DC-based rights group, says at least 1,544 cases of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping and other assaults have been reported against asylum seekers waiting in Mexico as of February 2021.
“Restarting any version of the Trump administration’s notorious Remain in Mexico policy will lead to immense human suffering,” Eleanor Acer, the organization’s senior director of refugee protection, said in a statement. “Trump 2.0 policies at the border are a recipe for continued cruelty, disorder, and violations of refugee law.”
Last month the Biden administration came under heavy criticism for expelling more than 7,000 Haitian asylum seekers back to their crisis-stricken country.