‘Stay in Mexico 2.0’: How were the principles of the Trump era revived? | | Migration Issues

Washington, DC – Since the beginning of December, more than 200 people hoping to apply for asylum in the United States have been repatriated to Mexico to await U.S. courts, the human rights group said, under a point raised by the Trump administration.

The government of President Joe Biden sought to abolish the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), saying the program discriminates against refugees and internally displaced persons. unnecessary dangers in Mexico.

But a Texas court ruled in favor of the ordinance – also known as Stay in Mexico – resumed in August, Missouri and Texas after filing lawsuits against Biden officials, alleging that they had abolished the policy without due process.

In early December, Biden’s administration reinstated the program – with some changes – following a court ruling. Meanwhile, it has asked the Supreme Court to allow the dissolution of the MPP party.

But experts say the country’s Supreme Court is not expected to issue a ruling by the end of June, and in the meantime, asylum seekers could be repatriated to Mexico according to what the immigration advocates called “Stay in Mexico 2.0”.

Here, Al Jazeera monitors what is happening:

What is the ‘Stay in Mexico’ program?

Former President Donald Trump, who made immigration restrictions one of his main goals, made the MPP a barrier to prevent refugees and refugees from expressing what they consider to be “nonsense”.

Policy, which came into force January 2019, has forced border crossings to wait in Mexico to hear their case in the US embassy for months and sometimes years.

About 70,000 people, including children, were forced to wait in the Mexican border towns, often in dangerous and unsanitary refugee camps, as a result of the law. Their access to legal counsel was also limited.

The MPP has been widely criticized by US and other international human rights organizations who have said it violates the US government’s role in domestic and foreign law.

What did President Joe Biden do?

In fulfillment of the campaign promise, Biden suspended new registrants on January 20, his first day in office – suspending MPP.

In the months that followed, his reign began open the process allowing people still waiting in Mexico to enter the US to continue their security concerns. From February, over 25,000 people shipped to the US.

Later, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memo June 2021 to end this process.

So what happened?

In August, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump-appointed judge, ruled in favor of two Republican-led states that sued Biden officials for removing the MPP “at random”. Mr Kacsmaryk ordered officials to reinstate the plan.

The Biden government appealed the decision to a US Supreme Court, but refused to overturn the Texas court decision.

So what does it mean for MPP?

The Biden government will comply with a Texas court order but will continue to work to eliminate the practice. He later said this would make the MPP “human”.

Mayorkas was released second memo to dissolve the MPP party in October 2021 which responded to the government’s demands. Commenting on page 39, Mayorkas said that although it helped reduce immigration and border crossings, the MPP put people at risk unnecessarily while waiting in Mexico.

“The MPP was flawed, squandered people’s resources, squandered resources and partners on other important issues, and did not address the causes of random migration,” Mayorkas said.

Refugees and refugees under the “Stay in Mexico” program lived in a small camp in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. [File: Loren Elliott/Reuters]

So when did ‘Remain in Mexico 2.0’ come into effect?

The plan went into effect on December 6, and the first two migrants were repatriated to Mexico December 8.

Is the new repetition of the process different from the original?

The Biden government has promised to provide protection to asylum seekers – only 9 percent of those who registered for the MPP have been able to get lawyers under the former MPP, according to the Migration Policy Institute – and for cases to be completed within 180 days.

Mexico also called for “high-risk individuals”, including people with mental and physical disabilities, the elderly, the sick and LGBTQ people, to exclude from the program.

Have these promises been fulfilled?

Immigration activists say no. Yael Schacher, deputy director of the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, attended the first two days of the MPP trial on January 3 and 4 in El Paso, Texas. Schacher told El Paso Matters, a non-profit organization, that only five of the 82 people who registered for the MPP whose cases were heard in those days were the ones who received counseling.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy counselor at the American Immigration Council, also said that “the problem of access to counseling continues”.

He told Al Jazeera that Biden’s administration “could not afford to face the dire situation in which those in northern Mexico have nothing and little security they will have a hard time finding US lawyers to help them with their cases”.

Refugees and refugees on the ‘Stay in Mexico’ program outside the National Migration Institute (INM) [File: Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters]

How many people have been sent to Mexico with the new MPP type?

In an email to Al Jazeera, the US Homeland Security (DHS) department did not say how many people had been deported, or crossed the border.

But according to data compiled by Human Rights First, a US human rights group affiliated with the Mexico Institute of National Migration (INM), 217 adult male migrants were deported to Mexico with the help of a recent MPP between December 8 and January 4.

More than half – 135 people – were from Nicaragua, and 46 were from Venezuela. Some of the people who were sent under the MPP were from Cuba, Ecuador and Colombia.

It has been a month since the Biden admin re-launched Live in Mexico (MPP). DHS has returned 217 refugees and refugees from Nicaragua (62%), Venezuela (22%), Cuba (7%), Ecuador (6%) and Colombia (3%) under the program while still using Chapter 42 to evacuate others. @Humanrightsfirst pic.twitter.com/aTHfHKyGR6

– Julia Neusner (@JuliaNeusner) January 4, 2022

How does the discount method work?

Under the new policy, refugees and internally displaced persons are temporarily detained on DHS premises until interrogated by a police officer who may determine their “appropriate” return to Mexico – known as non-repatriated communication.

If they appear to be “safe” to return to Mexico, they are being transported to the border. MPP is currently being implemented on two routes: El Paso, Texas and San Diego, California. The program is expected to be expanded to include five additional ports of entry.

Upon arrival in Mexico, INM officials are accused of taking them to a Mexican government-funded facility, where they remain until their next court case in the US. Mexican officials have been pushing MPP applicants to the border.

Under the first MPP review and up to February 2021, Human Rights First reported that at least 1,544 refugees and interns in the program were killed, beaten, robbed, robbed or raped in Mexico. [File: Henry Romero/Reuters]

What are the rights groups saying about the process?

Civil society groups say non-verbal communication is difficult because asylum seekers are not fully informed of their intentions and consequences.

“Most people were unaware that they had the right to speak to a lawyer before being asked questions about their fear of returning to Mexico,” said Julia Neusner, a Human Rights First refugee lawyer who has been following MPP. .

“People did not understand the purpose of the interview and why those who feared repatriation to Mexico were sent back under the program,” Neusner told Al Jazeera, adding that several interviewees had been abducted or abducted. and Mexican police registered the program.

Is there anything different about this new policy?

In the first program, only citizens of Spanish and Brazilian-speaking countries were involved in the removal of the MPP.

The new MPP has been expanded to include all citizens of the Western hemisphere, with the exception of Mexico. This means that Haitians, along with refugees and internally displaced persons from other Caribbean countries, can now be included in the MPP. This growth was not required by law of a Texas court.

Is it safe to send people to Mexico?

Under the first MPP review, up to February 2021, Human Rights First reported that at least 1,544 refugees and interns in the program were killed, beaten, robbed, robbed or raped in Mexico. Many completely abandoned their requests for protection.

The human rights organization says so security concerns because the fugitives and refugees have not perished.

“There is no way to make Residence in Mexico safer and more humane, without compromising,” Kennji Kizuka, director of refugee research and security analysis at Human Rights First, said at a recent conference.

“And because of the tragic events that have taken place it is inevitable that there have been more and more reports of kidnappings and attacks on people who are now being reprimanded by the most recent policy.”