The government chaired by Joe Biden plans to reestablish the
Stay in Mexico
immigration program next week
, created by former President Donald Trump to return asylum seekers to the neighboring country to wait for the months or years it takes to resolve their cases in the United States. , as reported this Thursday by several sources to the information website Axios.
Biden ended this policy when he arrived at the White House in January claiming it was
inhumane
due to the violence migrants faced in Mexico, but a federal court decision forces him to reinstate it pending resolution of his allegations.
Central American migrants rest on the street in Huixtla, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, on their way to the United States, on October 26, 2021.Marco Ugarte / AP
The Government promises to vaccinate affected immigrants against COVID-19, but has not yet clarified whether it will do so before returning them to Mexico or when they return for their court hearings.
The border cities of
El Paso and Brownsville, in Texas, and San Diego, in California
, will be the first to apply the measure, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP, for its acronym in English), explained an official of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
[The Biden Administration plans to reinstate Trump's 'Stay in Mexico' policy in mid-November]
The implementation of the program continues in any case depending on whether Mexico accepts migrants into its territory: "We cannot do so until we have the
independent agreement of the Government of Mexico
to accept it," explained Marsha Espinosa, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, to quoted medium.
Two sources cited by Axios highlighted the concern raised by the operation to transfer migrants from Mexico to the United States to participate in their court hearings, and the possibility that they must travel at night despite the high crime rate.
The future of
Quédate en México
was uncertain since the states of Texas and Missouri sued the government in April for suspending it.
In August, a federal judge in Texas ordered the Administration to reinstate the policy pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
A judge orders the reinstatement of the immigration program 'Stay in Mexico', created by Trump
Aug. 16, 202100: 26
The immigration program, which was launched by Trump in January 2019, led thousands of people to subsist in makeshift camps along the border, in dire conditions and subject to violence and extortion by criminals.
["ICE agents won't stop people on their way to work," Mayorkas promises]
Human rights organizations have documented hundreds of
kidnappings, rapes and abuses of returned migrants.
In any case, the Biden Government has continued to implement - and defend in another court case - the public health policy created under the umbrella of restrictions by COVID-19 and known as Title 42, which allows the majority of applicants to return. of asylum who arrive at the border without even hearing their cases.
