The Government of Joe Biden promised this Thursday to end
Stay in Mexico
as soon as it is "legally permissible", hours after the Supreme Court gave him the green light to end this immigration program that forces asylum seekers to wait in the neighboring country for months or years to have their cases resolved.
"We welcome the Supreme Court decision that the Secretary [of the Department of Homeland Security] has the discretionary authority to terminate the program," he said in a statement.
"We will continue our efforts to end the program as soon as legally permissible," the department said.
Honduran Iracema Figueroa, left, watches her daughters play at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, in May 2022.Gregory Bull/AP
The program, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), was launched by the government led by Donald Trump in January 2019.
Biden suspended him as soon as he arrived at the White House in January 2021 and denounced his inhumane nature due to the hardships suffered by asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico.
However, the policy came back into operation when the court ordered it, ruling in favor of the lawsuits filed by Texas and Missouri, and pending the decision of the Supreme Court.
[“It is very favorable”: this implies the judicial decision that favors the end of 'Stay in Mexico']
Some 70,000 migrants were returned to Mexico during the Trump Administration;
with Biden in power, the figure dropped to 3,000 asylum seekers between December 2021 and the end of March.
"As Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas concluded in October 2021 after a comprehensive review, the Migrant Protection Protocols have endemic flaws, impose unjustifiable human costs, and divert resources and personnel from other priority efforts to secure our border," he said. the Department.
Migrants are glad that the program that forces them to wait in Mexico is allowed to end
June 30, 202201:59
The Supreme Court ruling does not modify the validity of Title 42, another measure imposed by Trump in the pandemic and that allows asylum seekers to be immediately expelled on grounds of public health.
The DHS reiterated in its note that it will continue to try to abolish this rule, although justice has also prevented it.
The Supreme Court's backing brought joy to hundreds of asylum seekers stranded across the border.
"I am now free. This is a purpose of God," Blanca Rosa Lau, a Honduran migrant, told Noticias Telemundo.
"Hope," said Elva, another migrant from Honduras;
"It's a better future for my child."
[“Now I am free”: they were forced to wait in Mexico for their American dream and now they have hope]
Luis, his deaf-mute mother and his little brother, for their part, yearn to be able to live in the United States after leaving El Salvador behind and suffering an ordeal on their route: "The car in which we came [to Mexico] spun, the brakes went off , we had an accident, and then they kidnapped us, "Luis explained to Noticias Telemundo.
Immigration lawyer Alma Rosa Nieto said that the next step the government must take is to announce the day it formally ends Stay in Mexico so that asylum seekers can schedule their appearance before an immigration court.
This family's journey to the US was "terribly horrible" and they celebrate the end of 'Stay in Mexico'
June 30, 202203:15
Nieto added that the ruling should be interpreted as a wake-up call to congressmen to approve an immigration reform;
“This decision so favorable to our community has to be a
knock knock
to Congress to say: 'We have to act'.
Likewise, the expert interpreted that the ruling "also indicates to the lower courts that they cannot rule on foreign policy and immigration. This gives Biden the reason that he had the power and the right to end this inhumane program."