Biden administration says 'Remain in Mexico' policy is over

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security has ended a Trump-era policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court, hours after a judge lifted an order in effect since December that it be reinstated.

The timing had been in doubt since the Supreme Court ruled on June 30 that the Biden administration could end the “Remain in Mexico” policy. Homeland Security officials had been largely silent, saying they had to wait for the court to certify the ruling and for a Trump-appointed judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, to then lift his injunction. The Supreme Court certified its ruling last week.

Biden administration officials announced the end to the so-called "Remain in Mexico" policy late Monday evening.

The program will be unwound in a “quick, and orderly manner,” Homeland Security said in a statement. No more people are being enrolled and those who appear in court will not be returned to Mexico when they appear in the U.S. for their next hearings.

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The policy "has endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and personnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border,” the department said.

"Finally, today we got good news they won’t enroll anyone else and anyone who shows up for court will be removed from the program," said Marysol Castro, managing attorney at Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, which provides pro bono and low-cost legal representation.

Many questions remain, including whether those whose claims have been denied or dismissed will get a second chance or if those whose next court dates are months away will be allowed to return to the U.S. sooner. Homeland Security said it will provide additional information “in the coming days.”

About 70,000 migrants were subject to the policy, known officially as “Migrant Protection Protocols,” from when President Donald Trump introduced it in January 2019 until President Joe Biden suspended it on his first day in office in January 2021, fulfilling a campaign promise. Many were allowed to return to the United States to pursue their cases during the early months of Biden’s presidency.

In Border Patrol's El Paso Sector, more than 18,000 people were enrolled in the program and returned to Juárez, the majority in fiscal 2019 and 2020, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

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In fiscal 2021, the last year for which data is available through TRAC, 1,061 people were returned to Juárez to await their asylum hearings in an El Paso court. Many were single adults, majority men, from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador.

Trump made the policy a centerpiece of border enforcement, which critics said was inhumane for exposing migrants to extreme violence in Mexico and making access to attorneys far more difficult.

The program was “extremely problematic,” Castro said, “because people are coming legally to seek asylum and we are denying them an opportunity. They are facing more torture and persecution in Juárez than what they are running away from. They don’t have the resources to put up a strong asylum claim, and they’re being denied due process. As an attorney who does this every day, it’s not an easy task.”

Lauren Villagran contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: DHS ends Trump-era immigration policy 'Remain in Mexico'