The White House urged potential Central American asylum seekers on Tuesday not to rush to the U.S.-Mexico border, as President Biden ends former President Donald Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” policy.
The 2018 policy required asylum seekers arriving at the border with Mexico to wait for a decision on their applications before entering the U.S.
Candidates currently awaiting a decision will be allowed to enter the United States with the gradual elimination of Biden.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy, Liz Sherwood-Randall, said in a statement that the initial reversal of “Staying in Mexico” will apply only to the 71,000 asylum seekers who are already part of the program.
“If you seek entry into the United States and do not have an active MPP case, you will be immediately expelled and will not be allowed to remain in the United States,” they said.
In December, then-elected President Biden said he was concerned about abruptly relaxing Trump’s immigration policies so that he would not provoke “2 million people on our border”.
Proponents of the “Stay in Mexico” policy say it prevents asylum seekers from entering the United States, despite knowing that their persecution claim is likely to be denied. Some asylum seekers in the U.S. are allowed to work while their applications are processed.
Opponents of the policy say that northern Mexico can be just as dangerous as the crime-infested Central American countries from which candidates are fleeing.
Sullivan and Sherwood-Randall said that new asylum seekers should not plan to report to the border immediately.
“We caution people looking to immigrate to the United States that our borders are not open and that this is just the first phase of the government’s work to reopen access to an orderly asylum process,” White House officials said.
“This new process applies to individuals who have returned to Mexico under the MPP program and have cases pending at the Executive Immigration Review Office.”
They said, “Individuals outside the United States who have not been returned to Mexico under the MPP or who do not have active immigration lawsuits will not be considered for participation in this first phase of this program and must await further instructions.”