Uncertainty among migrants grows due to the restart of the 'Stay in Mexico' program

The migration program

restarts this Monday after an order from the Government of Joe Biden.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the program will begin at

: San Diego, Calexico, Nogales, El Paso, Eagle Pass, Laredo and Brownsville.

The measure, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), was 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.

In Matamoros, Tamaulipas, hundreds of migrants from a shelter prayed this weekend that the return of the program does not affect them, as they fear that hundreds of immigrants who are in the United States awaiting a resolution to their asylum applications will be returned.

Migrants await with fear and uncertainty the reactivation of 'Stay in Mexico'

Dec. 6, 202101: 51

"We would pray that another mechanism be made better so that people can have their resolution,

" Honduran Dennis Mata told Noticias Telemundo.

The fear is great in this shelter because its capacity is already exceeded: more than 200 have been waiting for up to a year to reactivate their immigration process.

[The 'Stay in Mexico' program forced more than 70,000 migrants to return to that country]

"It would be good if they fixed their documents there

... That they leave us free here to solve our case," said the Honduran Carlos Benavides.

“People are going to accumulate again.

Right now we cannot lower our guard with the contingency of the coronavirus ”, warned the director of the Dulce Refugio shelter, Samuel Reina. 

They fear that the reactivation of 'Stay in Mexico' puts some 20,000 asylum seekers at risk

Dec. 3, 202102: 10

Last week, both governments pledged to

and ensure quality in health.

Meanwhile, in Reinosa the authorities assured that they already have an area of ​​almost 10,000 meters ready where they intend to install a center with basic services to receive between 1,000 and 1,5000 migrants.

[The Government asks the justice again to allow it to end Stay in Mexico]

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 forced him to reinstate it pending resolution of his allegations.

The Government promised to vaccinate the affected immigrants against COVID-19.

However, the vaccination rate is very low among migrants served by the Border Patrol.

According to government reports obtained by CBS, of the more than 1.6 million migrants processed by authorities,

Those responsible assure that they vaccinated only those who voluntarily accepted it.

One of the main demands of Mexico to reach an agreement was to obtain a guarantee from the United States that asylum cases will be processed quickly, in order to reduce the time that migrants must spend in its territory waiting for a resolution .

Another of the concessions that the government of President Biden has allegedly made to achieve the Mexican agreement is to support the creation of the

program

announced on Wednesday by the authorities of both countries.

It is an initiative to offer scholarships and training to young people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador so that they can find employment in their country of origin and thus try to stop the migratory flow to the north.

Central American migrants, waiting to request asylum in the United States, remain in a camp near the El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, December 5, 2021. JORGE DUENES / REUTERS