The Remain in Mexico Policy Reinstated

After much push back by the Biden administration, former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy has been reinstated.

The United States met with Mexican officials and agreed to take steps to address Mexico’s humanitarian concerns with the program. This includes offering vaccines to migrants and exempting more categories of people deemed vulnerable.

Officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), Biden suspended the program shortly after taking office. This created a surge of immigrants at the border, hopeful that the much softer Biden administration would let them pass without much ado.

The Pew Research Center organized data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to show the dramatic uptick in immigrants. This fiscal year, a new record was set, with nearly 1.7 million immigrant encounters reported. 

The Remain in Mexico policy requires that asylum seekers at the southern border stay in Mexico while they await hearings in U.S. courtrooms. The court then determines their eligibility and status.

Without the policy, asylum-seekers were released into the United States pending the outcome of their case. Many of them fail to show up for their court date as they are already on American soil.

The administration was sued in April by Texas and Missouri officials over the program’s suspension. They argued that ending it placed a burden on states because migrants use state services such as issuing driver licenses and providing hospital care. Its reinstatement was ordered by a federal judge in Texas, pending the lawsuit’s outcome in August.

The lawsuit made its way through the appeals court all the way to the Supreme Court before the Biden administration agreed to comply. The administration made it clear that they are only abiding by this decision while continuing to pursue legal action against it.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “We also believe in following the law, and that’s exactly what we’re doing, as there was a ruling that required us moving forward with implementation.”

Unlike those who fly into the United States from elsewhere in the world, immigrants will be offered vaccines but will not be forced to take them. When Anthony Fauci was recently asked about this hypocrisy, he simply stated it was a “different issue.”

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