SAN DIEGO (AP) – The Biden government announced plans on Friday that tens of thousands of asylum seekers were forced to wait in Mexico during a Trump-era policy of being admitted to the U.S. while their cases are being handled by immigration courts . .
The first wave of an estimated 25,000 active asylum seekers in the “Stay in Mexico” program will be admitted to the United States on Feb. 19, authorities said. They plan to start slowly, with two border crossings processing up to 300 people a day and a third crossing less.
President Joe Biden’s government has refused to publicly identify the three intersections for fear it could encourage a rush of people, but U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat in Texas, said officials told him they were Brownsville and El Paso is in Texas, and San Diego’s. San Ysidro crossing.
The move is an important step towards breaking down one of former President Donald Trump’s most important policies to deter asylum seekers from coming to the US. About 70,000 asylum seekers have been enrolled in the program officially called Migrant Protection Protocols since its introduction in January 2019.
On Biden’s first day at the office, the Department of Homeland Security has suspended the policy for new arrivals. Since then, some asylum seekers picked up at the border have been released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court.
Biden is quickly making a promise to end the policy, which according to the Trump administration is critical to reversing a boom of asylum seekers that peaked in 2019. But the policy also exposed people to violence in Mexican border cities and made it extraordinary. difficult for them to find lawyers and communicate with courts about their cases.
“As President Biden has made clear, the US government is committed to building a secure, orderly and humane immigration system,” said Interior Minister Alejandro Mayorkas. “This latest action is another step in our commitment to reforming immigration policies that are not in line with the values of our country.”
Asylum seekers will be released with notices to appear in court in cities near or in their final destinations, usually with family, administrative officials said.
According to Homeland Security, the move “should not be construed as an opening for people to migrate to the United States irregularly.” Administration officials say the vast majority of people crossing the border illegally are quickly suspended under a public health order Trump imposed in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. But some families seeking asylum have been released in Texas and California and are working against the messages.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that she was concerned that limited releases in the U.S. could encourage others to cross over illegally.
“We do not want people to put themselves in danger at a time when it is not the right time to come, because we have not yet had time to set up a human and moral system and process,” he said. she said.
Court hearings for people enrolled in “Remain in Mexico” have been suspended since June due to the pandemic. Giving them a message about when you report to the border for release in the United States can be a daunting job.
Homeland Security said it would soon announce a “virtual registration process” online and by phone so people can learn where and when to sign up. It requested asylum seekers not to report themselves at the border unless instructed to do so.
The International Organization for Migration will assist with logistics and asylum seekers for COVID-19 testing before entering the U.S., spokeswoman Liz Lizama said. The Mexican director of the UN’s Migration Agency, Dana Graber Ladek, said he wanted to inform asylum seekers across the country about eligibility.
The announcement provides no relief for people whose cases have been dismissed or denied, although administrative officials have not ruled out additional measures. Lawyers argue that communication problems, including the lack of work addresses in Mexico, have caused some people to miss hearings and lose their cases as a result.
Mexico has agreed to take back more asylum seekers in June 2019 to defuse Trump’s threats of tariff increases. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador welcomed Biden’s changes and said at a news conference on Friday that it would be “good” for the US to present them instead as their affairs run through the system.
The release of the remaining in Mexico will take place as more people stop crossing the border illegally since Biden took office, challenging the government in its early days.
Raul Ortiz, deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said on Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been stopped in the previous ten days, compared to a daily average of 2,426 in January.
About 50 to 80 adults and children turn up daily at Catholic charities in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas since Jan. 27, which houses people released by the Border Patrol, said Sister Norma Pimentel, the group’s executive director. The COVID-19 charity tests send anyone who tests positive to a hotel for isolation.
The San Diego Jewish Family Service housed 191 asylum seekers in the first ten days of February after their release, compared to 144 in January and 54 in December, said Eitan Peled, the group’s border services lawyer. It is quarantined for ten days in hotels.
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Associated Press author Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed.