Letter seeks to reassure administration won’t comply with Texas judge’s order to restart Migrant Protection Protocols program
In this April 30, 2019, file photo, migrants seeking asylum in the United States line up for a meal provided by volunteers near the international bridge in Matamoros, Mexico. The US government will expand its policy forcing asylum seekers to wait outside the country in one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
EL PASO, TX (Border report) – Twenty-three House members and eight senators are urging the Biden administration to, once again, end the “Stay in Mexico” program that endangers the lives of asylum seekers by keeping them in Mexico.
Biden ended the policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols when he took office, but a Texas federal judge ordered it reinstated. The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request by the Biden administration for an emergency stay.
“The MPP does not represent our values as a country and should be permanently rejected along with the many other illegal policies of the Trump administration designed to punish and deter refugees from seeking safety. The court orders leave ample room for your administration to ensure that the MPP never again puts another person at risk,” wrote lawmakers led by U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey. President Biden.
Lawmakers are asking Biden to terminate the MPP and say he will refuse to implement the policy again.
“The horrors of the MPP are well documented. During its implementation from January 2019 to early 2021, nonprofit groups tracked more than 1,500 public reports of rape, kidnapping, torture, trafficking, and other crimes committed against claimants. asylum and migrants returned to Mexico under the policy,” the lawmakers said. noted. “Since you took office and continued the Trump administration’s illegal Title 42 policy, which also forcibly returns people to Mexico, there have been 6,356 additional reports of violent attacks on deported or stranded migrants. in Mexico.”
Title 42 is a public health order allowing United States Customs and Border Protection to quickly deport newly arrived unauthorized migrants to prevent the cross-border spread of COVID-19.
