WASHINGTON, Feb 13, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Asylum seekers forced to remain in
Mexico while their cases are being resolved in the United States will begin
to be admitted into the US as of next week, President Joe Biden’s
administration announced Friday.
Biden instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) earlier this
month to take action to end the controversial “Remain in Mexico” program put
in place by his predecessor Donald Trump.
It saw tens of thousands of non-Mexican asylum seekers — mostly from
Central America — sent back over the border pending the outcome of their
asylum applications, creating a humanitarian crisis in the area, exacerbated
by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Beginning on February 19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will
begin phase one of a program to restore safe and orderly processing at the
southwest border,” the agency announced in a statement.
It said there are approximately 25,000 active cases still. Candidates will
be tested first for the coronavirus, a senior DHS official who asked not to
be identified told reporters.
At least 70,000 people were returned to Mexico under the agreement from
January 2019, when the program began to be implemented, through December
2020, according to the NGO American Immigration Council.
US authorities emphasized that they are working closely with the Mexican
government and with international organizations and NGOs at the border.
DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the first Latino and the first
immigrant to head the department, stressed that Washington is committed to
“rebuilding a safe, orderly and humane immigration system.”
“This latest action is another step in our commitment to reform immigration
policies that do not align with our nation’s values,” Mayorkas said in a
statement.
The program was part of Trump’s hardline plan to fight illegal immigration,
one of the hallmarks of his administration and which included efforts to
build a border wall and the policy which separated children from thousands of
migrant families.
After Biden took office on January 20, his administration announced that it
would reverse the most controversial measures and created a task force to
reunite families that remain separated, a policy his administration has
termed a “national shame.”
On the day Biden was inaugurated, the DHS announced the suspension of new
registrations in the “Remain in Mexico” program and asked all those enrolled
to stay where they are while waiting to be informed about their cases.
Washington said Friday that those waiting “should not approach the border
until instructed to do so.”
In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, at his press briefing,
welcomed Biden’s move.
Lopez Obrador said he hoped to discuss with Biden a work visa program for
Mexicans and Central Americans.
“Their presence as workers in the United States” is vital to the US
economy, Lopez Obrador said.
Migrants in Mexico hoping to reach the US welcomed the policy change in
Washington.
“With this news our miracle is on the verge of becoming reality,” said
Nicol Bueso, a 19-year-old Honduran who has been living in a shelter in
Ciudad Juarez on the US border for a year and a half.
“I am very happy because in all this time we have been here waiting we have
had many unpleasant experiences,” she said.
Jose Madrid, a 40-year-old Honduran, thanked the Biden administration.
“Life is very hard in Central America and we are grateful to the president
for making that decision and helping Central America,” said Madrid, who has
been in Ciudad Juarez for nearly two years.