As part of its efforts to end a Trump-era policy that kept tens of thousands of asylum seekers out of the U.S., the Biden government on Friday admitted the first group of migrants who previously needed to wait in Mexico for their court immigration hearings.
US border officials sued 25 Latin American asylum seekers at the southern California port of San Ysidro, and allowed them to remain in the country during the process.
The San Diego Jewish Family Service welcomed asylum seekers, who had to test negative for coronavirus, and transported them to a hotel in the area so they could be quarantined, according to the nonprofit’s executive director. , Michael Hopkins. The group included six families and five individuals from Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Cuba.
“It is the beginning of a new day for our country,” Hopkins told CBS News. “The Remain-in-Mexico program was inhumane in many ways.”
A U.S. government asylum officer who interviewed people enrolled in Trump-era politics praised the Biden government’s effort, saying that migrants allowed to enter the U.S. now “will have their claims fairly judged.”
“Today was a day full of hope. We finally saw 25 people received with dignity,” Taylor Levy, a lawyer who helped dozens of asylum seekers who returned to Mexico, told CBS News. “It is such a wonderful sigh of relief that finally, at least for the 25 people, there will be justice and hope.”
Bloomberg
To prevent migration to the U.S., the Trump administration in 2019 enacted a program that it dubbed the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which eventually led to more than 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers being sent back to Mexico to await their court hearings. from the USA.
Many were returned to places in northern Mexico plagued by violence and crime and waited months and even years for their court hearings in the U.S. while they were in squalid tent camps for migrants. The largest camp is in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, an area that the United States Department of State warns Americans not to visit.
The Human Rights First group has documented more than 1,500 reports of aggression, kidnapping, rape, threats and even murder against migrants that the US returned to Mexico under MPP policy, according to an updated list on Friday.
The chances of obtaining legal assistance also proved to be small for most migrants who returned to Mexico. More than 65,000 of the asylum seekers subject to the policy had no lawyers representing them in court, according to government data compiled by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
The Department of Homeland Security stopped placing asylum seekers on the MPP program shortly after the inauguration of President Biden, who vehemently denounced the practice during his presidential campaign.
The admission of 25 asylum seekers to California on Friday ushered in a new process that the Biden administration created with the help of non-profit organizations, international groups and the United Nations refugee agency to gradually receive migrants pending to stay in Mexico cases so that they can stay with family or friends in the USA
“Today, we have taken the first step to start processing eligible individuals on the border with security, efficiency and humanity,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement.
It is estimated that 25,000 people could qualify for phase 1 of the process, but the number of asylum seekers who will be admitted during this phase is likely to be less, as many migrants with pending cases in the US have left Mexico and returned to their countries of origin. source.
Recently detained migrants who have never been enrolled in the program are not eligible for this process and continue to face rapid expulsion under a Trump-era public health order that the Biden administration has so far maintained. In his statement on Friday, Mayorkas warned potential immigrants not to take the “dangerous journey” north.
“Travel restrictions at the border remain in effect and will apply,” he said.
Bloomberg
The United States is expected to begin prosecuting more qualified asylum seekers in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, on Monday, and in El Paso at the end of next week. When fully operational, ports of entry to these initial locations are expected to process around 300 migrants per day.
On Friday, the United Nations refugee agency released a website where qualified migrants can register to receive an interview to enter the United States. DHS said it will prioritize the admission of asylum seekers who have waited longer in Mexico, as well as those who are medically vulnerable or who face imminent danger.
The Biden administration is demanding that all migrants test negative for coronavirus at testing sites in Mexico before being allowed to enter the United States. Positive asylum seekers will have to isolate themselves in Mexico for 10 days. After completing the isolation period and not having a fever for 24 hours, these individuals can again be considered to enter the United States, the State Department said on Thursday.
DHS said that asylum seekers allowed to enter the United States under the Remain-in-Mexico reduction will generally not be sent to detention centers. Instead, they will be directed to local shelters and groups like the Jewish Family Service so that they can have access to temporary housing before leaving for their respective destinations in the USA.
Hopkins, the CEO of the Jewish Family Service in San Diego, said his group plans to continue using hotels to provide temporary housing for asylum seekers. Through private donations and funds from California and the federal government, the Hopkins group will offer newly admitted migrants clothing, food and other necessities such as diapers and help with transportation.
“Most arrive with very little money and few goods,” said Hopkins.