The Biden Administration took another step toward undoing former President Trump’s hardline immigration policies by officially terminating the so-called “Remain in Mexico” program. The program known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) was a key element in Trump’s policy strategy at the southern border. It forced thousands of people seeking asylum in America to remain in Mexico until their case was decided in U.S. immigration court.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a DHS memo Tuesday marking the official end of the MPP program, in which he underscored that the policy did not improve border management conditions.
“I have determined that MPP does not adequately or sustainably enhance border management in such a way as to justify the program’s extensive operational burdens and other shortfalls. Over the course of the program, border encounters increased during certain periods and decreased during others.”
President Biden paused MPP almost immediately after he took office on Jan. 20. The White House has allowed into the country around 11,000 people who were in the program, according to Reuters.
The formal end of the program comes a few days after DHS banned family separations for prosecutions of illegal border crossings, another leftover from the Trump era that was implemented to slow down the asylum process.
The ACLU celebrated the news that the “Remain in Mexico” program was being shuttered, because of the dangerous conditions it put thousands of asylum seekers in.
