The New U.S. The “Remain in Mexico” policy

The U.S. The “Remain in Mexico” policy, which has affected the lives of thousands of migrants, will formally expire, according to a Monday announcement from the Department of Homeland Security.

The Trump administration first put the policy into effect in 2019, forcing many asylum seekers at the border to wait in Mexico for hearings in immigration court, which frequently took months or even years.

According to CBS News, the strategy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP, was used to deport at least 70,000 people to Mexico during the Trump administration. According to advocacy group Human Rights First, there were more than 1,500 instances of “murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, and other violent assaults” against migrants subjected to MPP between the policy’s inception and January 2021, when newly sworn-in President Joe Biden first suspended it.

However, disputes about whether Biden had the jurisdiction to revoke the policy raged for months in the courts; as a result, the government reinstated MPP in December 2021 in response to a court ruling. The Supreme Court ultimately decided that the administration could end the policy in June 2022. After the SCOTUS certified its decision last week, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas removed the preliminary injunction he had issued directing the administration to reinstate MPP on Monday. DHS claimed in the statement that it is working to remove the programme “quickly and orderly.”

Asylum seekers will no longer be included in the programme as a result of Monday’s news, and those who are presently in Mexico awaiting their turn in court will not be deported once they return to the United States.