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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 3 December 2021

US will resume policy for asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico

working to ensure migrants’
safety when they travel to and Mexico is also seeking mon-
from court, including within ey from the U.S. for shelters
Mexico. Migrants returned and other organizations to
from Laredo and Browns- substantially increase sup-
ville, where Mexican border port for migrants waiting in
cities are especially danger- Mexico.
ous, will be moved to loca-
tions farther inside Mexico. Many U.S.-based legal aid
groups that have represent-
The policy will apply to mi- ed asylum-seekers waiting
grants from Western Hemi- in Mexico say they will no
sphere countries. U.S. offi- longer take such cases, rais-
cials haven’t said how many ing questions about how the
will be processed daily. The U.S. can satisfy Mexico’s in-
administration has kept in sistence on better access to
place another Trump-era counsel. Administration of-
policy that allows it to return ficials say they believe there
Central Americans to Mexico are enough other lawyers
on the grounds of preventing who will represent asylum-
the spread of COVID-19. seekers sent back to Mexico.

Migrants will have an oppor- Many immigration advocates
tunity to meet with attorneys say the policy is beyond re-
before each hearing. The pair.
(AP) — Migrants seeking of major violence while wait- and changes that Mexico de- State Department is working
to enter the United States ing in Mexico and faced a manded. with Mexico on locations for “The ‘Remain in Mexico’
will again have to stay in slew of legal obstacles, such video and phone access to at- policy was a humanitarian
Mexico as they await im- as access to attorneys and case All migrants subject to the torneys in the U.S. disaster when it was first im-
migration hearings, as information. policy will be vaccinated plemented, and it is doomed
the Biden administration against COVID-19. Adults The changes mirror many to be so again,” said Eleanor
reluctantly announced Migrants are expected to be will get the Johnson & John- conditions that Mexico laid Acer, senior director for ref-
plans Thursday to accept returned starting Monday in son vaccine, which requires out last week. Mexico also ugee protection at Human
the Trump-era policy and one border city, which has only one shot. Children who said “vulnerable” people Rights First, which docu-
agreed to Mexico’s condi- not been identified. It will are eligible under U.S. guide- should be exempt, includ- mented violence against asy-
tions for resuming it. eventually be done in seven lines will get the Pfizer shot, ing unaccompanied children, lum-seekers while they were
locations: San Diego and with second shots when they pregnant women, physically waiting in Mexico.
Revival of the “Remain in Calexico in California; No- come to the U.S. for their or mentally ill people, older
Mexico” policy comes even gales, Arizona; and the Texas first hearings. people, indigenous people The office of Texas Attorney
as the Biden administration border cities of Brownsville, and members of the LGBTQ General Ken Paxton didn’t
maneuvers to end it in a way Eagle Pass, El Paso and Lar- The U.S. will try to complete community. immediately respond to a
that survives legal scrutiny. edo. cases within 180 days, a re- request for comment. Last
President Joe Biden scrapped sponse to Mexico’s concerns “The Mexican government month, the judge denied his
the policy, but a lawsuit by The Homeland Security De- that they will languish. The reaffirms its commitment to request to declare the Biden
Texas and Missouri forced partment said Thursday that Justice Department is assign- migrant rights as well as to administration was flouting
him to put it back into effect, it was acting to comply with a ing 22 immigration judges to safe, orderly, regulated mi- the court order.
subject to Mexico’s accep- court order but that Secretary work on these cases exclu- gration,” Mexico’s foreign
tance. Alejandro Mayorkas believes sively. relations secretary said in a Paxton and Missouri Attor-
the policy “has endemic flaws, statement Thursday con- ney General Eric Schmitt
Mexico’s foreign relations imposed unjustifiable human U.S. authorities will ask mi- firming that the country ac- urged the judge to force the
secretary said in light of U.S. costs, pulled resources and grants if they fear being re- cepted the Biden administra- federal government “to live
concessions Mexico will al- personnel away from other turned to Mexico instead tion’s changes and additions. up to their duties by follow-
low returns, expected to be- priority efforts, and failed to of relying on them to raise ing the blueprint they previ-
gin next week, “for humani- address the root causes of ir- concerns unprompted. If the Blas Nuñez-Neto, acting ously followed.”
tarian reasons and for tempo- regular migration.” migrants express fear, they homeland security assistant
rary stays.” will be screened and have 24 secretary for border and im- “The objectively unreason-
“Deeply flawed,” White hours to find an attorney or migration policy, said in a able delays in implementing
Mexico’s conditions include House spokesman Jen Psaki representative. court filing Thursday that even a portion of (the policy)
COVID-19 vaccinations for said Thursday when describ- the administration shares demonstrate their lack of
migrants, more protection in ing the policy. “We’re work- The Biden administration is Mexico’s concerns. good faith,” they wrote.
dangerous Mexican border ing to implement under the
cities, better access to attor- court order,” she said.
neys and quicker resolution
of cases. The dual announcements
follow intense discussions
About 70,000 asylum-seekers between the U.S. and Mex-
have been subject to the pol- ico after U.S. District Judge
icy, which President Donald Matthew Kacsmaryk, a
Trump introduced in Janu- Trump appointee in Amaril-
ary 2019 and which Biden lo, Texas, ordered the policy
suspended on his first day in be reinstated, subject to Mex-
office. ico’s participation.

Illegal border crossings fell The policy’s new iteration,
sharply after Mexico, fac- outlined for reporters by
ing Trump’s threat of higher Biden administration offi-
tariffs, acquiesced in 2019 to cials who spoke on the condi-
the policy’s rapid expansion. tion that they not be named,
Asylum-seekers were victims includes major additions