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‘Remain in Mexico’: Biden administration must keep promise to end policy that forces migrants to wait in dangerous Mexican border towns

Two years ago today, the Trump administration subjected the first migrant to a callous and unlawful policy that risks asylum seekers’ lives by forcing them to wait in Mexico for their U.S. immigration court hearings, stranded in border towns under life-threatening conditions.

Stuck there, families sleep in tents that do little to protect them from the elements or crime. Others crowd together in grimy streets without blankets or pillows amidst this humanitarian crisis. Parents clutch their children tightly out of fear they could be kidnapped.

The Trump administration officially implemented the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” better known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy – aimed at denying legal rights to migrants seeking asylum – on Jan. 25, 2019.

When this policy was first implemented, the Southern Poverty Law Center warned that it wouldsubject asylum seekers to unprecedented danger,furtherentrench white supremacy in our nation’s immigration systemand cause chaos. It has done just that.

This policyhastrapped tens of thousands ofpeopleatthe border – making it nearly impossible for them to exercise their legal rights.By forcing thousandsoffamilies seeking protection to remain in Mexico, the Trump administration exposed them to additional risk and attempted tohidethis U.S. government-created humanitarian crisis from the American public. 

While last week’s announcement by the Biden administration thatit will no longer send people into this program is an important first step, there must be immediate follow-up toensure the thousands of men, women and children currently subject to thepolicyareallowed tosafely enterthe United States, with appropriate public health precautions,and provided a meaningful opportunity to present their cases.

Two weeks after thegovernment returned thefirstpersonunder the policy on Jan. 29, 2019, theԽ, American Civil Liberties Union,and Center for Gender & Refugee Studies filed a lawsuit,, challenging the policyon behalf of affected asylum seekers and six legal service providers.

In April 2019, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the policy that was subsequently stayed, allowing the Remain in Mexico policy to remain in effect.In February 2020, the court of appeals affirmed the injunctionon the basis that the policy was not authorized by the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Only days later,the U.S. Supreme Court stayedthat injunction, allowing the Remain in Mexico policy to continue.The injunction remains blocked pending review by the Supreme Court, and oral argumentis scheduled for March1, 2021.

InOctober 2020, theԽ, in partnership with Innovation Law Lab, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and pro bono partner Arnold & Porter LLP, filed an additional  challenging the policy on behalf ofcertainaffected asylum seekers, and two legal service providers, Jewish Family Service of San Diego and Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

This lawsuit allegesthat the Remain in Mexico policy has deprived thousands of asylum seekers of access to legal assistance and other tools needed to meaningfully present their claims.

The plaintiffs seek to facilitate the return of individual asylum-seeking plaintiffs, following precautions recommended by public health experts, so they can pursue their claims from within the United States, and to allow legal service organizations to continue their work unencumbered by the challenges of cross-border representation.

The Remain in Mexico policy is unlawful and immoral, and the Biden administration must follow through on its promise to ensure that affected migrants are allowed to safely enter this country and present their cases.

Photo byEduardo Jaramillo Castro/Getty Images