The Biden administration ended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy, possibly opening the door for tens of thousands more migrants to enter the U.S. According to the New York Post, the Department of Homeland Security will no longer accept asylum seekers into the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, which over the past three years has kept nearly 70,000 migrants south of the border while they awaited immigration hearings.
When immigrants return to the U.S. for their next scheduled court appearance, they will be “disenrolled” from the program, according to DHS, and subsequent removal proceedings will take place in the U.S. DHS stated, “MPP has endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and personnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border.”
In early 2019, former president Donald Trump adopted MPP as the number of migrant encounters increased to more than 100,000 per month. Since October 1 of 2021, there has been an average of nearly 194,000 encounters. The Biden administration made numerous attempts to end the policy, but U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the White House had not followed procedure in December 2021 and ordered the administration to make a good-faith effort to uphold MPP while the case was being litigated.
The Biden administration has long maintained that MPP did not discourage immigration, exposed immigrants to unwarranted risks, and constrained the Executive Branch’s ability to control borders. However, Republicans have cautioned that removing MPP will cause migration along the southern border to rise from already-historic numbers.
Since October 1, 2021, border agents have documented record levels of illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. In June alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported stopping 207,416 migrants at the southern border.
