WASHINGTON – Next week, the Biden government will begin prosecuting immigrants who have been waiting, often in precarious conditions, under the Trump era “Stay in Mexico” policy, allowing them to live in the United States while awaiting decisions on their asylum cases. , government officials said on Thursday.
The policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocol or MPP, began in January 2019 and was criticized as inhumane by international organizations, as Central Americans were often left without adequate shelter and became the target of violence in Mexico while waiting months or more than a year before they are allowed to file their asylum case on a U.S. court date. Authorities estimate that more than 25,000 migrants are currently waiting at the border under the program and said they would begin allowing approximately 600 a day to enter.
The move is a step towards “human processing at the border,” an official said in a press conference with reporters on Thursday.
As of February 19, asylum seekers who have been waiting the longest or are considered vulnerable will be able to enter the United States while awaiting their day in court. The authorities said that immigrants will not be detained, but kept in “alternatives to detention”. Although officials were not specific about what these methods would be, alternatives to pre-arrest detention included ankle monitors and routine check-ins to ensure that migrants attend the scheduled hearing.
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Government officials said immigrants should wait for further instructions, rather than going to any port of entry at this time. They also discouraged further migration, saying that newcomers would not be eligible to enter the United States at this time.
“Those who have no active cases will have other opportunities,” said one of the officials.
Under what the authorities have called “phase one”, asylum seekers will be tested by an international agency for Covid-19 on the Mexican side of the border, then they will be transferred to one of the three gateways where they will be processed and authorized entering the United States pending the next asylum hearing.
Officials said they expected two main gates to process up to 300 people each day in the first phase of their plan. They said they have been working with international organizations since the presidential transition to begin the process of ending the “Stay in Mexico” policy.
