Asylum Seekers Begin High-Stakes Process to Leave Mexico, Enter U.S. After Biden Policy Changes
On 2/23/21 at 3:39 PM EST
When Donald Trump forced migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to instead remain in Mexico, the move was assailed by human rights organizations, but the logistics ended there.
President Joe Biden reversed that policy effective February 19, and the Homeland Security Department, the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been tasked with safely processing up to 25,000 migrants, starting with about 300 per day at two border crossings, Brownsville and El Paso in Texas, and a lesser number at San Diego s San Ysidro crossing, according to the Associated Press.
Updated on February 22, 2021 at 10:08 am
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The first small group of asylum-seekers to be allowed into the United States under the Biden administration’s recent changes came into the country Friday through a U.S.-Mexico border crossing in south San Diego County.
The asylum-seekers who will be allowed into the U.S. are waiting for courts to decide on their active immigration cases but were sent to Mexico under the Trump Administration s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). Now, instead of having to wait in Mexico while their cases are being processed, they will be allowed to wait in the U.S.
Mustering support
Others represent Adelante Mujeres, based in Forest Grove; Centro Cultural de Washington County, based in Cornelius; Consejo Hispano, based in Astoria; Dreamers Resource Center at the Rock Creek campus of Portland Community College; Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon; Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization; Innovation Law Lab, and Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, which runs clinics in Washington and Yamhill counties.
Some of them urged add-ons, such as additional mental health counseling and economic aid for immigrants, including help with application fees that have escalated during the Trump administration. For young people shielded from deportation, the initial application fee jumped from $460 to $695; for permanent residency, from $1,760 to $2,860, and for citizenship, $640 to $1,170.
TIJUANA
Two years and 21 days after the first asylum seeker was walked back from San Diego to Tijuana under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, a small group of asylum seekers was escorted in the other direction to wait out immigration court cases in the United States.
Under President Biden’s direction, border officials Friday began processing the first of the estimated 26,000 people who have pending cases in U.S. immigration courts and have been waiting in Mexico under the Trump administration’s program, officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP.
The program radically altered the asylum system. It became one of former President Trump’s most successful attempts to restrict access to asylum and deter migrants from Latin America from seeking refuge in the United States.