(CN) --- Asylum seekers denied entry into the United States under the Trump administration policy known as “Remain in Mexico” can try to seek asylum again starting this week, the White House announced Tuesday.
The U.S. government forced more than 70,000 immigrants to remain in Mexico during the Trump administration while they waited for their asylum claims to be processed. As many as 34,000 asylum seekers could be eligible to enter the U.S. beginning Wednesday under the Biden administration’s new policy, though that estimate is likely very high as many have left Mexico, were deported to their home countries, saw their cases closed, or were kidnapped and held for ransom as they waited for their day in court.
The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program --- commonly called the "Remain in Mexico" policy --- was discontinued earlier this month by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Approximately 11,000 asylum seekers denied entry under MPP have since been admitted into the U.S., and more people will be eligible to enter as the MPP program winds down.
“As part of our continued effort to restore safe, orderly, and humane processing at the Southwest Border, DHS will expand the pool of MPP-enrolled individuals who are eligible for processing into the United States,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email. “Beginning June 23, 2021, DHS will include MPP enrollees who had their cases terminated or were ordered removed in absentia (i.e., individuals ordered removed while not present at their hearings). DHS will continue to process for entry into the United States MPP enrollees with pending proceedings.”
Those eligible for processing under this latest phase should stay where they are and register online to continue the process, the agency said.
The controversial “Remain in Mexico” program forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait in some of the most dangerous cities in order to make their cases for asylum in court. More than 27,000 immigrants have been deported because they did not appear at their hearings according to data compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. It was not for a lack of trying according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel with the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit immigration advocacy group.
“One of the main reasons many people missed court was due to insecurity and danger in Mexico,” Reichlin-Melnick said in a phone interview. “We know that hundreds if not thousands were kidnapped by the cartels in Mexico. There are dozens of documented cases of people who were in a cartel homes, held by their kidnappers and held for ransom at the time when an immigration judge ordered them removed from court.”
Immigrants given a court date and ordered to wait in Mexico needed to cross at port of entries along the US-Mexico border starting at 4 a.m. In one instance, a woman was nearly kidnapped by her taxi driver on her way to her court hearing. She got away but missed her hearing, Reichlin-Melnick said.
The Biden administration is “righting a wrong” brought by the Trump administration that blocked immigrants from entering the U.S. and essentially left them to fend for themselves, Reichlin-Melnick said.
While the immigration community continues to applaud the Biden administration’s policies, some states argue the policies exacerbate the conditions at the border. Earlier this year, Texas sent more than 500 National Guard troops to the border to deal with the surge of immigrants.
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